Corruption in urban land administration in Lusaka city: drivers and forms

Abstract

Scarcity of land in Lusaka is resulting into increased land prices and various sectors of the society are increasingly questioning the extent of transparency and fairness in land administration. This study examines public perceptions of corruption in urban land administration in terms of proneness of land administration processes to corruption; drivers of corruption; forms of corruption; and options for addressing the vice. Data was collected using a questionnaire administered on 265 conveniently sampled Lusaka residents. Additional data was also collected using five focus group discussions and five in-depth key informant interviews. Data was analysed using thematic and content analysis. Key informants included lawyers, land officers, urban planners, officials from Zambia Land Alliance, Civic forum official and individuals. This study identified 16 stages or processes in land administration from making layout maps through full council meetings to title deed issuance. All the processes of land administration were prone to corruption but at different levels. The processes that were perceived to be highly prone to corruption were; application process for plot stands; interviews; plans committee meeting deliberation; full council meeting deliberations; release of names of successful applicants in national media and recommendation of successful applicants to the Commissioner of Lands. The least prone to the vice were making of layout plans; numbering of the land; surveying of the land and advertising land in national media. These results showed that drivers of corruption included greed, poor enforcement of laws (over-regulation), use of discretionary powers, ignorance, land shortage, poverty, desperation, nepotism, competition, complex procedures and processes, over-bureaucratization and lack of defined timelines. The perceived two major drivers of corruption were greediness (15 percent) and political patronage (10 percent). The least driver was desperation (6 percent). Results further showed that corruption in land administration takes various forms including bribery, abuse of discretion, favouritism, nepotism and political patronage. Political patronage and bribery emerged as the most common forms at 87.2 percent and 66.4 percent respectively. The least form was institutional (4.2 percent). Options for addressing the vice includes corruption awareness campaigns for both residents and technocrats involved in land administration; implementation of policy that help prevent corruption such as the one plot to three applicant ratio in application for land; promotion of computerised system for land data storage using GIS software and finally advocating for mind-set change for both technocrats involved in land administration and Lusaka residents. This study concludes that the public perceive land administration process in Lusaka City is laden with corruption of various forms, driven by multiple drivers that require an integrated approach in addressing the problem. Thus the study recommends mainstreaming of anti –corruption in all development processes and policies, strengthening of legal systems and increased application of technology (ICT) to enhance transparency and improve efficiency in the land administration system. KEY WORDS: Land Administration, Corruption, Urban, Perceptions. Lusaka