THE administration of our land tenure system is a mess, according to Solomon Islands first Commissioner of Lands, Leonard Maenu’u.
The culprit?
“The British Government is the biggest crook in creating the mess in the landownership of land in Solomon Islands,” Mr. Maenu’u, a retired public servant who now calls Honiara home for many, many years, told me in an interview, Thursday.
Mr. Maenu’u had been trying to get in touch with me since the article, titled “Land Buyers Face Eviction, I authored came out on Monday last week. We finally met up after missing each other by mere minutes in the last two days.
The front-page article was based on the High Court ruling in Civil Case No. 326 of 2021 on whether the Commissioner of Lands has the power to forfeit land.
In his decision, Puisine Judge Lawry ruled: “The power of forfeiture provided in section 136(1) of the Land and Titles Act may only be exercised following a prior express determination by the Land Board. That right cannot be delegated to the Commissioner.”
The Commissioner maintains he has the right to forfeit.
Parties in the case are Andrew Chee Singwong v Commissioner of Lands, Registrar of Titles and Attorney General.
“What you’ve done in exposing the issue in our land system is an important national issue. Other journalists have shied away from it because of the ramifications. People have the right to know as they are bound to fight if someone – particularly a foreigner – comes along with an eviction notice and says you are out of here,” he told me.
“Just imagine if former Prime Ministers Manasseh Sogavare, Hon Ricky Hou, other ministers and ordinary citizens wake up one morning to find their parcel of land are in the affected areas. They are bound to fight to protect the title to their land,” he said.
“The question now is how we deal with it from here on because it is the biggest issue this country will ever face,” he counselled me.
“Instead of allowing it to fester as it has over the years, we must act. The problem we are dealing with now is not something that just popped up overnight. It has been here since the Britain declared Solomon Islands a Protectorate in 1893.”
Mr. Maenu’u was a forestry officer when he was asked to take up the position of Commissioner of Lands in 1974. He did.
He worked with the Surveyor General and the Registrar General in sub-dividing land.
The problem is the British knew nothing of our land system. There was no alienated land in Solomon Islands then. Every land is customary, owned by tribes.
Land, he said, were never meant to be sold. People have the right to use it but not for sale, he said.
Mr. Maenu’u said that when foreign laws were introduced to govern the administration of land here, it just created yet another level of confusion because everyone here has their own system, except for gender – some have patrilineal while others have matrilineal inheritance in terms of leadership.
When asked whether the Commissioner’s claims that he has the power to forfeit, Mr. Maenu’u said that used to be the case. Unfortunately, it is now the other way round, according to him, because of the amendments to the law.
He believes the Commissioner’s position should be held by a Solomon Islander because he or she would understand the customs here than outsiders.
By Alfred Sasako
