# **3.1.2. Sales of customary land**

Explicit threats of expropriation/confiscation of customary land in peri-urban areas by state representatives, along with pressures from local authorities (which propose resettlement of households evicted following settlement upgrading and tenure regularization within Bamako District), encourage customary landholders to sell their land to developers and coxers, or to accept land subdivisions made by _Préfets_ , in order to avoid the risk of expropriation and unfair compensation or outright confiscation. This very common practice has been observed in all visited villages in the peri-urban area of Bamako. It contributes to land speculation and can be considered as a factor of corruption in land administration.

Until recently, customary land was not sold but could be allocated by peri-urban village headmen without any money changing hands, in return for allegiance or acknowledgement of indebtedness.<sup>31</sup> The purchase of customary land has gradually become possible without initially taking a monetary form; the buyer would offer the seller some kola nuts. For example, the village headman of Faraba, in Faraba _commune_ , told us in January 2012 that before around 2007-2008, strangers to the village who wanted land would come bearing 10 kola nuts.

Monetary transactions are now swiftly gaining ground. Today, there are four main ways peri-urban customary land is transferred to buyers:<sup>32</sup> (i) The sale of customary land to individuals who will use it for agricultural purposes. They may subdivide it in a later stage in order to sell plots (see (iii) below).

(ii) The subdivision and transfer of individualized land plots by customary landholders themselves, which is not considered as a legal practice, although it can lead to the issuance of a precarious title after a complex, timeconsuming and costly administrative procedure. Customary landholders often go through the intermediary of an individual who pays himself handsomely for his participation in the plot subdivision. Customary landholders may ask for a CR and then subdivide land into plots and sell them on. In view of the lack of proper land information systems, the unavailability of subdivision layout plans, poor land management capacities at _commune_ level and widespread clientelism, and given the poor quality of the land transaction records kept at local level (villages and _communes_ ), a series of illicit practices and disputes between sellers and buyers can arise, especially when the same plot is the subject of multiple allocations to several different buyers.

(iii) The sale of large tracts of customary land (as opposed to individualized plots) to investors, co-operatives<sup>33</sup> , potential developers and speculators, for further subdivision, which occurs in the rural hinterland up to about 50 to 70 km from Bamako city center. Sales of large tracts of customary land in peri-urban rural communes can be more easily formalized because of the financial means and social connections of powerful investors in land administration institutions. Although the beginning of the process is predominantly informal, the buyer can apply for a precarious title (CR). In a later stage, he can subdivide the land into plots and sell them on. This subdivision is not formally authorized by law but it is usually permitted. Keita & Djiré (2009) observe: _‘In Tienfala, we are seeing the emergence of a category of land speculators who call themselves land operators. The major land operators approach villagers and suggest plot division plans for the village or private individuals. Villagers get 10 lots out of 100 as remuneration for this operation. These transactions are formalized in memoranda of understanding signed by the customary landholders, the village headman and his council. Later on, the customary landholder will seek either a concession rurale or a concession à usage d’habitation for the plots divided in this way. Generally speaking, the land operator will sell his_

> 31 Bourdarias (2003), studying the tenure conflicts which broke out in Dialakorodji _commune_ between 1999 and 2002, writes: ‘The village is the place where a sense of belonging is built up through integration of “outsiders” in the networks of dependency founded on indebtedness, whereas the land market to some extent maintains the foreigner's status as someone extraneous to the village community. Consequently, the village is founded on the primacy of allegiance.’

> 32 Before 1991, according to our informants, the State used to allocate land of customary origin, which it had registered in its own name, to its clientele (army and police officers, senior government officials). Some of this land has since been sold on to individuals or investors.

> 33 We were told for instance that the co-operative of _gendarmes_ in the village of Missalabougou, Kalabancoro _commune_ , in Kati _cercle_ , illustrates this kind of operation.

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