An evaluation of presidential lease convenants in the development of land administration in Zambia
Date
2013-04-18
Authors
Munsaka, Florence
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Abstract
A Covenant is an agreement between the landlord and the tenant that imposes a legal
obligation to do or not to an act in relation to the land. Covenants in leases are intended to regulate the relation between the landlord and the tenant and define their rights and obligations regarding the use of the land. The main objective of this research was to analyse
the covenants imposed in presidential leases under the Lands Act of 1995, and evaluate their effect on the development of land administration in Zambia. To achieve this, the study involved the use of existing literature on land laws and policies, and semi-structured interviews with selected officers directly involved in land administration.The findings of the research were that covenants imposed in presidential leases under the Lands Act have not served their purpose of ensuring that land is put to good use. There is no proper administration and enforcement of the covenants regarding the use of land in Zambia.It was further found that the Ministry of Lands face huge challenges in enforcing the covenants under the Lands Act, the main challenges include; lack of updated book keeping systems, poor documentation, inadequate human resource and a general lack of the necessary machinery to monitor implementation of the covenants under Lands Act.The paper concludes that there is no strict compliance of covenants regarding the use of land. This has retarded the development of a good land administration system because most of the land lay idle for a long time without being developed. The paper therefore recommends that there is need to strictly enforce the covenants regarding the use of land. The provisions
relating to enforcement of breach of covenants under the Lands Act should be strictly followed. The paper further recommends that the institutions involved in enforcing covenants should be adequately funded to enable them to carry out routine checkups and inspections and ensure that lessees abide by the covenants in the lease. In this way the land will be put to
good use which is beneficial to the entire community and consequently will enhance the
development of a good and efficient land administration system in Zambia.
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Keywords
land use--government and state--Zambia , land tenure--government and state--Zambia