Land is a highly priced commodity anywhere in the world and a very sensitive source of conflict in almost all major cities and towns.
In Somalia, the nomads never used to value it so much but since the State collapsed in 1991, its value has sharply risen and is slowly causing tensions and becoming a silent time bomb likely to explode any moment.
Somalia’s next big problem — after insecurity — land or property disputes. It is already causing a silent disharmony and mistrust among the Somalis.
Some of the killings in Mogadishu and elsewhere in the country are actually associated with this issue.
Mogadishu, the capital city, is the worst ostensibly because many current landlords illegally
acquired properties whose owners fled the 1991 civil war. Since 2013, thousands of Somalis from Diaspora have returned home to reclaim their properties in vain. Some of them ended up being killed in cold blood for simply reclaiming their rightfully owned properties or land.
IMPUNITY and CARTELS
Government properties and land have not been spared either.
Thousands illegally occupy government houses, including military bases.
Many other public parcels have also illegally exchanged hands and new commercial premises built. The level of impunity is beyond imagination.
Those who took over beautiful deserted Italian-style villa houses left behind by owners who fled the civil war have lived
in them for the last 28 years without paying rent.
Many of the first occupants have since died, leaving behind their children, who continue to illegally occupy those properties. In some cases, the houses are occupied by their third generation who assume the property is theirs by right.
Over the years, there are many cases of unlawful sale of property by individuals who are not the original owners. They somehow made fake titles and sold properties they don't own. Some properties have even exchanged hands more than five times.
Unfortunately, due to the weak governance structures and high corruption within the judicial system, some illegal property transfers have even been cleared and rubber-stamped to legalise the sale.
What has, however, surprised many Somalis is how two individuals said to have been former staff of the Ministry of Land managed to keep all titles and the original records of the Ministry and are now charging people for verification of these documents. A friend of mine was recently asked to pay $15,000 by the land cartel to verify his late father’s property.
Shouldn’t the government take over those land files and titles from this cartel and pocket the huge sums of money extorted from the public by these thugs? Surely, something must be done to save the poor people of Somalia
The high level of corruption and impunity in the Judiciary has created a long list of complainants who have genuine titles but whose properties are owned by criminals with fictitious documents prepared by some really talented counterfeiters known locally as ‘Cabdala Shideeye’.
INHERITANCE TUSSLES
On the other hand, there are also many complaints of brothers locking out and denying their own siblings of their due shares of inherited properties.
It’s not surprising to hear of such sibling tussles. A classic example recently emerged within one prominent family of the late Abdulkadir Mohamed Soobe, a former Minister who left behind many properties, including houses and farms within and outside the country.
One of his landmark properties is located at the famous Soobe junction, which is named after him, and was the scene of the worst terror attack in Somalia in October 14 last year. Over 500 people were killed and hundreds others injured. This particular two-storey building is at the centre of the inheritance tussle between his five surviving children.
Two of his eldest sons, Mohamed and Ali, who are themselves elderly, recently came out to publicly acknowledge that their three younger siblings have locked them out of their late father’s vast estates. They blamed corruption within Somalia’s High Court, saying the same courts issued two contradicting judgements over their inheritance share. The civil case has been dragging on since 2013.
In May 17, 2014, the Mogadishu High Court Department of Verifications chaired by Chief Justice Abdullahi Aideed Ilkahanaf ruled that the disputed properties are a family inheritance to be equally shared. These are buildings in Mogadishu, farms in Lower Shabele and properties in Italy.
However, a year later the same court apparently issued another judgement after their sisters provided a fictitious inheritance note claiming their late father gave them all his properties. In accordance with Islamic Shariah law, which is practised in Somalia, all surviving children have shares to their father’s properties.
KANGAROO COURT
The Soobe children case is one of thousands of cases pending in court. Due to the high corruption in the justice system, many complainants take their cases to an al Shabaab-run Kangaroo court in Toratoorow, located in Lower Shabele region of Somalia.
Victims of land and property theft who have taken their complaints to this court claim that the militants’ justice system is somehow less corrupt compared to the government’s.
They say if you win a case in this justice system, you will definitely get back your property because they threaten the land grabber with death until he gives you peace.
These service are not for free: You are forced to pay some administrative fees to facilitate everything, including the sitting allowance of their judges. The fees paid depend on the value of your property.
The Somalia government must put its house in order and clean up its judiciary. Somalis need justice to end land grabbing and property losses by genuine landlords.
If this happens, then public land and government buildings, which are being grabbed day after day, will also stop and it will give the government an opportunity to refurbish its old dilapidated buildings and start offering real services to its people.