| dc.description.abstract | Land is a very important asset to every living thing ranging from the small insects, plants,
wild and domestic animals to human beings. Human beings being the most knowledgeable of
all the living things have the ability to regulate the manner in which the land is utilized. This
is through coming up with legal and institutional frameworks to guide the use of land and its
resources among the different land uses. Community land rights, which inform our research
objectives, need to be well defined and regulated to ensure a smooth and fair utilisation of
community land by the eligible members.
The main objective of the research was to investigate why ‘informal’ individualisation of
unregistered community land occurs and the effects it has on the communal land rights of the
residents. The data sought was generally qualitative in nature and questionnaires were used as
the main method of primary data collection. Secondary data was collected through review of
the relevant literature. The study population consisted of both female and male genders and the
calculated sample size was 72. The data collected from the field study was statistically
analyzed and the results clearly presented in table and graphs.
The main finding of the research was that the elite and the powerful especially the male
members in the society perpetrated the ‘informal’ individualization of community land. The
main reasons being the need to increase the sense of individual ownership through creating a
platform where the benefits resulting from any investment on community land will accrue to
the investor and not the entire community. It was also noted that many residents, especially
women who are categorised among the vulnerable, suffered landlessness, food insecurity
among other problems at the household level due to deprivation of their land rights owing to
the ‘informal’ individualisation.
As a way of curbing the problems of the ‘informal’ individualisation, the research
recommended the formation of local land boards that would deal with all community land
issues while ensuring that everyone is granted equal rights to community land irrespective of
their gender, social class or any other base. It is also important that the land officials strive to
establish the exact people entitled to community land while adjudicating any community land.
This will help ensure that land ownership falls in the hands of the eligible owners as the process
of adjudication has kicked off in the district. A lot of sensitization on the effects of the
discriminative cultural norms on development (both at local and national level) especially those
inhibiting women from inheriting any land is also a major recommendation of the research. | en_US |
