Spatial Inequality in Times of Urban Transition in Somaliland
This report synthesises the analysis of research on “Spatial Inequalities in Times of Urban Transitions” in 4 cities in Uganda and Somaliland
It was executed from December 2017 to September 2019 in 4 cities in Uganda and Somaliland. Based on a systemic view of land markets and integrated with a political settlement analysis it is meant to help in understanding and eventually overcoming constraints to the ways that land markets can contribute to spatial justice.
East Africa is experiencing an urban transition involving social, spatial and economic transformations. Population growth and rapid urbanisation have influenced land markets and overall development of all the cities under research. Secondary cities that present a high potential for growth, have land markets that are not shielded from the impacts of urbanisation. These transformations, which also include housing and infrastructure provision, relate directly to land tenure and the manner in which land transactions occur. Land is a scarce commodity and in high demand. However, it can be observed that in the context of urban migration and rapid urbanisation, poorer segments of society also feature as active stakeholders in markets, such as farmers as sellers and the urban poor as buyers of land, but with little influence on the transaction process itself.
Complex land markets offer a framework within which there are processes and aspects of transactions that can simultaneously promote spatial justice and injustice. That is, the same processes can have both positive and negative consequences for spatial justice.
The aim of this report is to suggest forms of support to policy development and policy interventions that can enable East African cities to offer greater opportunities to poor and marginalised urban groups. It does this by offering a brief overview of how the research operates with concepts of ‘cities-as-systems’ and ‘political settlements
In Somaliland, the pluralistic legal, cultural, and historical influences that have shaped the overall structure of land tenure can similarly be used to understand women’s relation to the land. Traditionally, Somali society has had distinct gender roles, although Article 31 of the Constitution explicitly confirms the right of all Somaliland citizens, regardless of gender, to own property on a personal basis. The long civil war has been particularly damaging for women, eroding some of the protections they enjoyed under the formal and traditional clan systems, although the picture is complex. In some respects, customary clan structures constrain women’s right to property, with Islam providing greater scope for gender equality, while in other instances, the reverse is true. Conflict disturbed many of these patterns, with consequently diverse and sometimes contradictory outcomes. While many women today, and in particular those with some wealth, argue that the situation has significantly improved in the past, some, and in particular poorer women, face greater obstacles as a result of the considerable weakening in state authority. Today there are signs that women are finding ways to assert their voices, creating roles for themselves in the business world and, in some cases, using Islam to claim their rights and to demand a larger role within Somali society. Women have begun increasing their role in the economy by becoming more involved in business affairs to increase their economic power and eventually claiming a larger role in decisions regarding land (Burman et al., 2014: 13–14). Although our research showed distinct bias towards women in land ownership with 60% of female-headed households in Hargeisa, this did not take into account intra-household power relations and claims to land as well as adult male absenteeism who may ultimately claim land ownership in a patriarchal society. This was further confirmed in a 2016 report on women land rights and minority groups in Somaliland, conducted by the Somaliland Nagaad Network in conjunction with FAO where although women make up about 60% of the population in Somaliland, less than 2% of the land is female-owned.
In Somaliland, land policy is relatively new and still underdeveloped. Land markets are fragmented and largely characterized by informal institutional arrangements in which many unregistered or partially formalised land brokers bridge the gap between potential buyers and sellers. Unless land is purchased for immediate development, most land transactions are not registered with the local municipality’s registry office. Land ownership transfers and transactions instead involve a social trust-based system built on witnesses of purchase and a countersigning of agreement by a reputable guarantor and notary registration. The tendency to pause before automatically registering a notarised transaction with the local state produces challenges in data management for land ownership for the Hargeysa authorities. The legal framework for Somalia’s land tenure system is a mix of secular, sharia, and customary Xeer law.
This legal pluralism has left grey areas within which conflicts ensue. Land conflicts in Hargeisa are common in the city as vacant land is contested by extended families of people who fled the city, newcomers to the city, and opportunists. A common means of laying claim to a land parcel is to build an enclosing wall, sometimes followed by an attempt to ‘legalise’ or formalise ownership by registering the wall as a building. In Berbera, land market activity is currently undergoing a new period of vibrancy after years of stagnation as a result of expected developments in the port area, with newly visible and extensive demarcation of plots. Property taxes are identified as an important source of local revenue for Berbera, which are enabled by the existence and continued maintenance of a land registration system. In contrast to Hargeisa, the land information system stores basic data describing properties and allows the local government to tax land transactions, generating significant income for the local council. In this regard, Berbera stands out across the continent as one of the few cities with a viable, functioning and integrated land administration system.
In principle, land markets in the four cities involve similar actors. That is, buyers and sellers as parties to the transaction, facilitators of the transaction, people or institutions that witness and/or record the transaction, institutions that register the transaction and institutions that enforce the transaction. However, there are significant differences between cities within the same country as well as between countries.
HARGEISA
In Hargeisa, there appears to be three types of land transactions due to greater conformity around plot sizes in multiples of 12m x 24m and standardisation of the land transaction process. Differentiation in land transactions appears to relate to whether the buyer registers the land transaction with the state and then pays building tax. Given the extensive demarcation of land visible from the spatial assessment and interviews conducted through the land market assessment, a discernible driver of land market activity is speculative investment in land. This is driven either by diasporic investment or locals looking for a safe place to invest their money. Moreover, given the extensive rates of tenancy in Hargeisa, it is conceivable that a fair proportion of land transactions are investments for rental and housing tenancies represent the third type of land transaction. One exception to this would be the informal settlements within the city where land parcels do not appear to conform to standards and where it is not clear what form of record keeping is occurring. It is highly likely that there is localised record keeping but our research did not generate enough data to draw any firm conclusions.
BERBERA
In Berbera, there appears to be two types of land transactions. The first is where all land transactions are registered. This is because the local authority has control over the land registration system. Given the extensive demarcation of land visible from the spatial assessment and the interviews from the land market assessment, a discernible driver of land market activity is speculative investment in land deriving from anticipated investments in the port. This is driven either by diasporic investment or locals looking for a safe place to invest their money in the absence of other opportunities. The second type of land transaction works through tenancy agreements with landlords. Given the extensive rates of tenancy in Berbera, it is conceivable that a fair proportion of land transactions relate to investments for rental housing.