Addis Ababa — study by Transparency International shows that in some parts of Africa, about 70 percent of the citizens have paid a bribe to access a service, at the various stages of the land sector.
According to Mr. Nyassi Tchakounte Lucain of Transparency International, the Chapter of Cameroon, bribery is still rampant despite efforts to reform public institutions.
Mr. Lucain said that a survey that was conducted in 13 African countries demonstrates that youth and women have difficulties in accessing land because of corruption in land administration and land registration processes.
Mr. Lucain was presenting at the Addis Ababa second Conference on Land in Africa organized by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Development Bank and under the coordination of the African Land Policy Centre (ALPC).
"Young people often perceive corruption in land administration as an insurmountable obstacle to the entrepreneurial spirit and access to employment", said Mr. Lucain, adding that corruption increases the already high cost of land registration in some countries.
Mary Awelana Addah of Ghana integrity Initiative explained that corruption in land sector can take many forms. "Women are particularly vulnerable, given social, legal and bureaucratic discrimination, and suffer extortion and harassment, including sexual harassment" she said.
To counteract land corruption, Ms. Addah says that a number of issues would need to be tackled, such as citizen participation in decision making and monitoring of land transactions. "There is a need for adequate access to information, which allows citizens to know their rights and how to make use of them", explained Ms. Addah.
According to Transparency International, corruption in land is often the culprit or an offspring of the breakdown of a country's overall governance.
"There is a problem with some countries who pretend that everything is fine, while there are massive corrupt practices around", said Mr. Lucain. "To develop and implement appropriate measures to mitigate corruption risk, we need to identify where corruption lies".
