71
waiting for completion of the registration process and will not be delayed by lodging
the registration at the regional level.
19. The final decision on all leases for under 250 hectares should be delegated to provincial level.
Auctions should be held at provincial level, though advertised nationally. The ministry's provincial
office should issue both in-principle and final offers, be responsible for sketch maps, and collaborate
with the relevant planning authority. A master parcel map would need to be maintained at provincial
level to permit checking of possible overlaps and numbering of the parcel. The numbering system
would need to reflect location by province and district.
If decentralization is to be tackled seriously, it must be done at least at the provincial
level. This implies new resources for the ministry, but provincial offices already exist
in many provinces and the new resources needed are within the realm of possibility.
20. Delegation of authority to make final offers for leases to the district level is technically feasible.
This would require the posting at that level of a district lands officer. When resources allow, the
ministry should begin to build such a cadre on a pilot basis.
If sketch maps as presently done are accepted as an adequate basis for all leases, not
just 14-year leases, there is no serious obstacle to delegation of final offers to the
district level. This would require the creation of a cadre of district lands officers for
the ministry, which would in turn mean new recruitment, but this is in any case
necessary for this understaffed ministry. Master map numbering of parcels could be
reported up the line for parallel maps at provincial and regional level. The district
lands officer would do sketch maps and act as the planning officer for rural grants.
Once the council approved the application, the ministry's district officer could make
the offer in principal and, once fees were paid (at district level) and any other
necessary planning permission received, could make the final offer. Access to vehicles
might be the major constraint to the development of operations at district level.
Council vehicles could be utilized in some districts, with costs shared.
21. For the time being, the roles played by councils and chiefs should remain as they are but should
be studied to determine whether alternative institutional arrangements exist, which require a more
collaborative mode between the council and chiefs.
The involvement of chiefs and councils in the approval of leaseholds is a very positive
element in the present system. However, chiefs may not adequately represent the
interest of all their people and give too heavy an emphasis to preservation of their
traditional prerogatives. It is possible to imagine elimination of the consent
requirement by either the chief or the council in certain circumstances, where the
applicant holds the land as ancestral land. It is also possible that the process could be
improved upon significantly by providing an institutional forum in which traditional
authorities and elected councilors could interact and discuss policy. But such changes
should be based on careful study. Research is urgently needed to explore the
possibilities and must begin by obtaining a better understanding of traditional land
administration.