Organized under the theme, inclusive land governance for sustainable development: time for action “, the work of the national land forum took place at the end of Friday in Lomé. Several recommendations aimed at securing land in Togo have been formulated. The forum proposes the urgent establishment of a multipurpose and digitized cadastre and a one-stop land office.
The end of Friday’s work of the national land forum was sanctioned by a set of recommendations, in the short, medium and long term.
In the short term, the participants propose the urgent development of a national land policy. It is necessary to revise downwards the costs of approval of plot plans and prohibit the intervention of the Directorate of Development, Equipment and Agricultural Mechanization (DAEMA) on plots of less than half a hectare . Areas whose subdivision has been approved by the competent service should no longer be subject to a visa at the level of the services of the (DAEMA). The forum advocates, therefore, to take steps to ensure that approved areas, without implementation plans, are regularized. The State must prohibit any form of transaction relating to an unregistered building. The forum proposes the suppression of the judgment of confirmation of sale. All real estate transactions must go through a notarial service, in accordance with article 2 of decree 66 86 of October 29, 1966. It is also necessary to apply article 2263 of the civil code for the limitation of actions to claim the right of ownership in rural areas, which is generally called the thirty-year prescription. It is also necessary to apply article 2265 of the civil code for the prescription of the actions in claiming the right of ownership in urban zones. The forum asks to make the land registration procedure easier and less costly, while listing the various texts that govern land in Togo, with a view to ensuring consistency. It is also necessary to identify all the financial authorities involved in land management in Togo and to provide all national land control, management and regulation services with the human and technical resources necessary for their proper functioning. It is proposed to the government to issue decrees defining the urban perimeters in order to avoid anarchic subdivisions. The State must proceed quickly to the approval of the zones already allotted, while developing and regulating the master plans of the various localities. It is necessary to set up a permanent network of stations and to take the regulatory measures to bring all the actors of the land to systematically attach their work to it. The forum advocates the setting up of a national geographical institute, suggests that the various administrations concerned by the land question be in a network, in order to facilitate the circulation of information between them. It is also necessary to set up a reference scale and a permanent account of compensation for all expropriations. The participants propose the establishment of a proactive policy of creating notarial offices throughout the territory. They advocate the establishment of a policy of popularization of the texts, in order to bring them to the knowledge of the populations.
Medium and long term actions
In the medium term, the forum proposes the creation of a judicial chamber specifically in charge of settling land disputes inspired by the emergency procedure of commercial chambers. It offers a georeferenciation of all land titles already created. A transitional register of land that has been the subject of transactions, but not yet registered, must be put in place, with a view to a temporary registration procedure within a specific timeframe. The forum calls for the completion of the existing legal and legislative arsenal with, among other things, texts on real estate development and co-ownership, the creation and regulation of real estate agents, the finalization and adoption of the new land code, the creation or elaboration of the town planning and construction code and the creation of the order of town planners. It also recommends the creation of a Directorate General for the Conservation and Ownership of Land Rights, which will have the role of an institution and of authority and headed by the curator, a sworn authority under the supervision of the Ministry of Finance, the creation of the Directorate General of Cadastre and State Affairs. The cadastres and dominating businesses will have to take up the unavoidable challenges of creating a tax cadastre, from which the State will draw certain revenues, while contributing to the improvement of the management of state affairs, by monitoring the land heritage of the State and the systematic monitoring of the registration of administrative reserves. In order to encourage registration and to bring the administration closer to the population, the conservation services must be decentralized. Therefore, in each region, there may be a regional management of land conservation, placed under the control of the general management in Lomé. The forum calls for the regulation by the State of the various collective land issues arising from the requisition of land by the public administration and others. In the long term suggests that all future development be done on the basis of a preliminary inventory. The State must identify all its estates, register them and regulate all expropriations. The State must also create a structure for equipping and servicing urban land. This structure will be responsible for buying land in areas not yet subdivided, with a view to servicing them. The State must, finally, anticipate the needs of the populations, by proposing in advance the master plans of the poles of attraction.
In the light of these recommendations, Minister Fiatuwo Kwadjo Sessenou expressed his gratitude to the participants and especially to the partners, in particular the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Togolese Revenue Office (OTR) and others, who worked to forum holding. He reiterated the political commitment, at the highest level of the State, to put into practice these recommendations, to put an end to the uncertainties surrounding land tenure in Togo.
Bernardin ADJOSSE