Corruption connected to land property on the rise

The establishment of land titles has been noted to capture a large chunk of the corruption going on in the country. The pressure from this activity has increased tenfold this scourge in our country. All efforts to create awareness and inform users on Land Affairs procedures have unfortunately not reduced this canker.

As a first step, the sub prefecture or the Departmental office of land Affairs was where the registration application was printed. It is also at this level that the application by the user is filed. The receipt issued therefore officially costs an average sum of 3,000 FCfa.

Now it has been revealed that in some sub-prefectures, they demand 20,000 CFA francs and 50,000 CFA francs for such applications. These prices are fraudulently charged by corrupt officials and are covered by prefects who issue no receipt for the amount received.

Meanwhile, in the departmental service of land Affairs, officially the cost for the preparation of the draft decision (the publication of an extract from the application for registration to collect possible oppositions) is 5,000 CFA francs.

This publication is done by posting in local service, the sous-préfecture; District, Town Hall and the leadership of the village concerned. However, according to the different departmental services of land Affairs, they charge such applicant between 30,000 CFA francs and 40,000 CFA.

As a reminder, the Advisory Committee which is competent to establish findings of occupation of the dependencies of the national field of 1st category to obtain title to the land is composed of the sub-prefect who chairs, the head of departmental service in the areas, the cadastre and land Affairs, the departmental delegate of agriculture, the departmental delegate for planning, the head of competent village and two notables.

The members of the consultative commission sign operating documents on the basis of a negotiated price. Each member sets its prices. Some require up to 100, 000 FCfa, which must be multiplied by the number of members.