The mapping project is aimed at getting a land cadastre where all community lands are mapped and registered. The exercise brought together all landowners of the different communities as well as their neighbors. Present at the validation activities were the government, represented by the Ministry of Lands, Country Planning and the Environment, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), civil society, Green Scenery and United for the Protection of Human Rights charged with the responsibility of carrying out the task.
In the initiative titled: Promoting Women’s Customary Land Rights in Sierra Leone, a project supported by the Irish Government through Irish Aid, the world body for food security, FAO, was charged with the responsibility of managing the project which, saw its implementation in all regions of Sierra Leone as a pilot project.
The pilot is meant to unearth the necessary challenges, obstacles, and lessons learnt during implementation to inform government that is preparing for a much wider application for developing a national land cadastre.
At the chiefdom headquarters of the de-amalgamated Bureh Chiefdom, the Regent or acting Paramount Chief referred to the Quran for those who steal property stating that one will be punished by the weight of the property stolen.
Samuel Mabikke, the FAO representative in charge of land and natural resources, expressed his satisfaction over the way and manner the project was being implemented by Green Scenery and United for the Protection of Human Rights, emphasizing how customary land rights of women are now being protected through the mapping exercise that ensures tenure rights to men, women, boys and girls.
The government representatives, Ngiawee and Samba, both elaborated on the National Land Policy and the VGGT spotting areas for the need for mapping and the protection of women’s rights to access and control land.
Examples were cited in other parts of the country where community lands were leased without understanding the dangers until they occurred. The errors are now posing difficulty to amend.
The exercise, according to them, is a calculated government initiative to help communities with these problems but also help sustain peace in the communities.
“Your communities now know how much land you have,” Samba said, “and safeguards you from undertaking a bad transaction,” he said.
