The Bill will provide for the corporate status of the Commission, the tenure of office and conditions of service of the members of the Commission. The Bill is also premised on the Commission’s functions as set out in Section 297 of the Constitution and provides for the appointment of an Executive Secretary of the Commission and its secretariat as well as the hiring of experts or consultants where necessary. It upholds the independence and impartiality of the Commission and its members and addresses conflicts of interest on the part of members of the Commission and its staff in the course of discharging their duties. It provides for the submission of reports by the Commission to the Minister and the tabling by the Minister of such reports before Parliament.
The Bill provides for jurisdiction of the Commission to conduct comprehensive inspections and audits of agricultural land to conduct investigations whenever complaints regarding the supervision, administration and allocation of agricultural land are raised as well as over disputes regarding agricultural land, The manner in which the Commission may conduct investigations and audits is outlined. Investigations will take the form of public or closed hearings.
Part IV of the Bill incorporates most of the existing provisions in the Rural Land Act, which will be repealed by this Bill. It relates to the general administration of State Land by the Minister responsible for the category of State Land in question.
Part VII of the Bill deals with the appellate and dispute settlement functions of the Commission as well as the Commission’s power to make regulations in relation thereto. It must be read together with the Fifth Schedule. I wish to draw the House’s attention to the fact that in striving to settle land disputes and complaints, the Commission is enjoined to endeavour to employ conciliation and mediation between the disputants as a first resort. Even where these efforts fail, the disputants are assisted by the Commission to come up with a clear agreed statement of the issues to be decided by the Commission.
The Bill will provide for the establishment of a Register of Partially Alienated State Land Rights. Every entry in the Register of a Partially Alienated State Land Rights (whether it be a permit, lease or offer letter) will be deemed to be the definitive record of such right and in the event of any inconsistency between such entry and any other record of such right kept in terms of this Bill or otherwise, the entry in the register shall prevail as proof of the Partially Alienated State Land Rights or any particular thereof.
Under Part IX of the Bill, the Ministry is enabled, through its designated officers, to create, vary or cancel statutory servitudes over or in favour of holdings of partially alienated State Land. It provides for the reference of disputes in connection with proposed statutory servitude and the rights privileges and obligations of interested parties of such disputes by the Commission. Provision is made for the registration of statutory servitudes in the Registry of Partially Alienated State Land Rights and where appropriate, in the Deeds Registry – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –
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