Individual and State Land Dispute Management System in Ethiopia: An Appraisal of the Legislative Framework

Abstract

Land is a major source of disputes in the world. Land dispute composes various types of disputes which ranges from the simple boundary dispute to the wider ownership rights claim. Land related dispute is serious regardless of the dispute since land is an important economic asset, source of livelihood and closely linked to community identity, history and culture. Land conflicts in general have negative effects on individual households as well as on the nation’s economy. The land dispute should, therefore, seen carefully to minimize the negative impact it brought to an individual and the stability of the country in general. In Ethiopia, the right to own rural and urban land as well as natural resources belong to the state and the peoples. Land is an inalienable common property of the nations, nationalities and peoples of Ethiopia and shall not be subject to sale or to other means of transfer. Accordingly,the  individual has only holding rights over the land not the ownership rights. Land is a source of dispute in Ethiopia like another part of the world. The dispute is a bit serious in our country due to absence of good land administration. The issue of the land dispute between the individual and the state in Ethiopia arises when there is expropriation by the state land under the holding of individuals. There is no absolute right over the property and this is true for land regardless of the kinds of rights exercised over it.The writer prefers to appraise the land dispute settlement mechanism in case state involved due to the fact there is a separate scheme for the settlement unlike that of dispute between individuals. The appraisal of the existing legislations governing the dispute settlement mechanism in Ethiopia in line with property rights theories demonstrates as, there is a limitation on the subject matter of the complaint, the administrative organ to hear grievance is not an independent as they are politically appointed persons, individual disputant is required to hand over the land to lodge an appeal. The existing dispute settlement mechanism in general can be said inappropriate as the land taker is empowered to handle the dispute. This in turn is making the land holders to face multifaceted social and economic hardship. The dispute settlement scheme must be, therefore, rectified by establishing an independent organ empowered to hear the grievance which may specialized court for this purpose.

Keywords: land, land dispute, dispute settlement mechanisms,