There has now been a twist to the much criticized land reform policy of the government following the issuance of the first ever negotiating certificate for a lease application for a rural custom land.
Yesterday, the Minister of Lands, Ralph Regenvanu handed over the first Negotiator’s Certificate to be issued for a lease application for rural customary land under the new land laws to the Vanuatu Football Federation (VFF) for the development of a futsal field and football field at Paunganisu village, north Efate.
The handover ceremony was witnessed by members of the Paunangisu community and their North Efate Member of Parliament, Jerry Kanas.
Mr Regenvanu said this also falls in line with the government’s 100-Day Plan.
“The Government’s 100 Day Plan has the aim of having 15 Negotiation Certificates issued within the Government’s first 100 days”, he said.
Mr Regenvanu said the certificate was one of three certificates issued yesterday for applications to lease rural customary land, the other two being for residential leases at Matantapua (Malapoa area) and Pango.
At the same time as this first Negotiator’s Certificate was issued, the Chairman of the Land Management and Planning Committee (LMPC), Professor Don Paterson, also took the opportunity to hand over to the Minister for Lands the annual report of the LMPC for 2014 and 2015.
According to the Land Reform (Amendment) Act No. 31 of 2013, the Committee is required to produce an annual report to be tabled in Parliament which details all the applications and leases processed by the Committee in one year.
The Minister of Lands assured the Chairman that this report would be tabled in the next sitting of Parliament.
In 2013, under Mr Regenvanu’s close watch, land legislations were repealed, new ones introduced and amendments were made to the constitution under the government’s new land reform policy.
The historic land reform legislation radically alter land dealings and provide improved protection of custom owners’ rights in customary land.
The new laws consist of four key changes: they alter the Constitution to include recognition of customary institutions and a role for the Malvatumauri (National Council of Chiefs) in providing advice to Parliament on changes to land law; allowing customary institutions to make final determinations of who the custom owners of an area of land are; removing the power of the Minister over customary land; and, it is hoped make land dealings fairer.
In the recent past, the land reform policy had received numerous criticisms from opposition members who claimed the reform is unrealistic and has provided complications on how custom land is registered.
Three years on, today, the first negotiating certificate was issued