Clarity on exactly how government is to give out lease land and the attached conditions are long overdue. Even the solicitor-general called it a “tricky issue” requiring further regulation (see Monday edition) when motivating a request to prosecute Member of Parliament (MP) Christophe Emmanuel, which was denied by the Joint Court of Justice.
The defence team said similar actions of other ministers had not been investigated. And while “two wrongs don’t make a right” there is – or in any case should be – such a thing as equal treatment.
The National Ordinance on Issuing Leasehold Lands also came up during the handling of an urgent request by government pending the Algeria appeal case, regarding the question whether this could be considered a civil or rather public law matter to be handled in an Administrative Justice procedure. The latter seems to be correct, as ministerial decrees are required for relevant decisions.
But it is not just about the regulations for providing land in long-lease, but also what recipients may and may not do with it. Related rules do exist – for example, when the land is to be used to build homes – but one gets the impression they are rarely enforced.
The result is an open trade in such properties; for example, by selling the so-called “economic rights” as reportedly happened in the Buncamper case. Here again, a “murky” picture appeared of what is considered permissible.
It was suggested on the Facebook page of this newspaper that the Integrity Chamber conduct an inquiry into these situations, so that statutory measures can be taken once and for all to prevent “grey areas” from being exploited and people applying loopholes for dubious dealings with what is – after all – the people’s patrimony.
