Market Protocol

EAC Partner States have begun to share lessons and best practices in land policy development. Each will henceforth be able to share considered best practices in land policy formulation, implementation and review. This regional sharing will be done within the realm of Article 15 of the EACMarket Protocol which provides that access to, and use of land and premises, shall be governed by national policies and laws of individual Partner States. States will therefore be at liberty to learn from each other, and, where they identify lessons applicable to their jurisdictions, make bilateral arrangements to benchmark, learn and borrow accordingly.

Will this help? Tremendously. The States are currently at different levels of land policy development. For instance, while South Sudan is yet to complete the formulation of its land policy, Rwanda reviewed its 2004 land policy in 2019, and moved on to the second implementation phase. Tanzania is at the tail end of reviewing its 1995 land policy, while Kenya is just beginning to review its 2009 policy. When these countries therefore share, there’s compelling mutual learning. The resultant improvement in land governance within the region is expected to make significant contribution to the realization of some of the regional co-operation areas. These include agriculture and food security, tourism and wildlife, infrastructure, and also environment and natural resources management.

African Union Declaration on land

The 2009 African Union Declaration on land issues urges Regional Economic Communities within Africa to convene periodic regional platforms to facilitate the sharing of lessons learnt, and the dissemination of best practices in land policy development. The EAC has now taken up this commitment through the Sectoral Council on Environment and Natural Resources, and has been making good progress. With the support of the African Land Policy Center which is charged with coordinating the implementation of the AU Declaration across Africa, an assessment of the status of land policy development within EAC Partner States was done earlier this year. The capacity of the EAC Secretariat to oversee the implementation of the AU Declaration within the region has been enhanced. A Regional Steering Committee, consisting of representatives of State Ministries responsible for Lands and for Regional Co-operation of the respective Partner States, with the responsibility of providing policy guidance to the implementation process, was established. That done, EAC went on to hold its first Regional forum in Kampala, Uganda, on 17-18 August 2022.

Regional Best Practices

Kenya shared the Galana-Kulalu project and its intended contribution to food security, and the online land management portal, “ardhisasa”. Uganda demonstrated progress made in the computerization of its land ownership records and maps, while Rwanda showcased best practices in the digitization of land services and land use planning. Tanzania highlighted progress made in enhancing tenure security in its villages and South Sudan tabled lessons from its ongoing land policy formulation process. Burundi provided experiences from its stakeholder collaboration mechanisms and land use planning. All very helpful to country-level initiatives.

Dated: 1^st September, 2022