Peri-Urban Land Governance in Developing Countries: Understanding the Role, Interaction and Power Relation Among Actors in Tanzania

It has been projected that by 2050, more than 66% of the global population will live in urban areas and urban expansion will occur more in Asia, Africa and Latin America regions (UN 2014). A large part of the population in these regions will continue to live in a state of illegal land tenure (FDC 2009). Projections further show that between 40 and 50% of India’s population, 30 to 40% Latin American, 20 to 60% in Arab countries and 50 to 80% in Sub-Saharan Africa cities will live in informal settlements (FDC 2009). This implies that developing countries will experience rapid expansion of the large cities. The expansion of urban areas develops vertically in towns and major cities while it is horizontal in the peri-urban belt (Bloch 2015; Maheshwari and Bristow 2016). As a result, small urban centers and villages around cities are turned into peri-urban areas due to changes of city and municipal boundaries to accommodate the urban expansions (Bloch 2015).

In Africa, it was estimated that the urban population would rise from 400 million people in 2010 to 1.26 billion in 2050, with cities such as Johannesburg, Khartoum, Casablanca and Dar es Salaam reaching a population of ten million inhabitants (Sow 2015). Ethiopian urban population is estimated to grow by 4.3% annually and increase by half a million every year (Adam 2014), while Luanda in Angola was noted as urbanising at a terrific rate (Mabin et al. 2013; Gastrow 2017). Statistics however, show that Africa remains least urbanised globally (UNACTAD 2017). By 2015, it was predicted that the continents’ urban population would represent only 55% of the continents’ total population compared to 64% for Asia and 86% for Latin America. The challenge however, remains rapid urbanisation without structural transformation (Sow 2015).

The search for better social facilities and infrastructures has led to rural-urban migration causing population burden in the African cities compared to the developed countries (FDC 2009; Napier et al. 2013; Fazal et al. 2015). This has contributed to commodification of land (Chimhowu and Woodhouse 2006; Adam 2014) as well as land use conflict particularly in Central Africa (Toulmin 2008; UN-Habitat 2010). Changes in macroeconomic policies, environmental, rural urban and across border migration are highlighted as contributing to ‘sub urbanism’ especially in Sub-Saharan Africa leading to informal settlements (Mabin et al. 2013; Gastrow 2017). These informal settlements have many names ‘shanty’ towns in South Africa, ‘Musseques’ in Luanda and ‘Uswahilini’ settlements in Tanzania (Rudic 2016; Groenewald et al. 2013).

In many African cities, peri-urban space is on demand for residential purposes as well as informal trade activities (UN-Habitat 2010; Bloch 2015). However, a new paradigm is that urbanism has been driven by the desire to imitate the status of world cities Gastrow (2017), a concept referred to as ‘Citiness’ in Africa and highlights Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria and Angola in this new development. This urbanism is shaped by policies and institutional frameworks in addition to actors (Mabin et al. 2013; Klug et al. 2014). In this regard, accomplishment of sustainable development in cities remains complex due to overwhelming urbanisation and rapid population growth and as cities sprawl, urban peripheries increase in number and typologies (Bloch 2015).

The situation is worsened by poor land governance mechanisms (Nuhu and Mpambije 2017). Most central governments lack the capacity to implement a large-scale national land registration system in a transparent manner (Toulmin 2008). In Sub-Saharan Africa, critical issues such as lack of political will, human and financial resources (Durand-Lasserve 2005), lack of integrity and participation (Deininger et al. 2011) rampant corruption (Nuhu and Mpambije 2017) are contributing factors to poor land governance. Weak urban land governance has adverse impacts on cities’ growth (Palmer et al. 2009). This leads to encroachment on the public spaces, insecure land tenure and violation of local community land rights (Kombe 2005; TI and FAO 2011; Klug et al. 2014). Adam (2014) hints that, peri-urban areas in African cities experience loss of land which has adverse social impacts. In many African cities, weak urban land governance drives the urban poor to live under the constant threat of eviction (Palmer et al. 2009; Kedogo et al. 2010). Furthermore, residents in these cities experience inequalities based on gender (Kedogo et al. 2010; Ravnborg et al. 2016) and economic status (Toulmin 2008; Adam 2014) which hinder both women and the urban poor from accessing urban land.

Attempts to address urban land governance challenges have been subjected to the paradigm shift in African countries, especially in the post neo-liberal period (Briggs and Mwamfupe 2000). While the state has monopoly of power over land in these countries, there is also an increase in the number of international, national and informal actors (Kedogo et al. 2010; Msangi 2011). The aforementioned actors are involved in the process of land access, in the peri-urban areas of major cities (Gwaleba and Masum 2018). These actors because of different interests influence decision making of peri-urban land governance at different levels (Palmer et al. 2009; Kedogo et al. 2010). Although the roles and impacts of various actors in land services and access have been cited by various studies (see Kedogo et al. 2010; Wolff et al. 2018; Gwaleba and Masum 2018), a comprehensive analysis of their interaction, influenced by power and authority, has not received adequate attention from scholars and policy makers.

This paper, seeks to reveal peri-urban land governance gaps in Tanzania using the existing literature. Specifically, the paper aims at identifying key actors, their roles, interactions and power relations. To pursue this, the paper uses the new institutional theory (following North 1990; Peter 2004; March and Olsen 2006). This theory is applied because most existing studies point out that formal and informal institutional approaches are dominant in the process of accessing and delivering public services in most developing countries (e.g. Kombe and Kreibich 2001; Quaye 2014). The governance viewpoint is also applied because Obeng-oddom (2017) noted that under the new institutional theory, the governance perspective is mainstreamed. This is reflected in the five prepositions offered by Stoker (1998:18) in theorisation of the governance concept. The preposition is that governance refers to a “set of institutions and actors that are drawn from but also beyond government”. It also means a network of actors, boundary responsibilities, relationship between institutions and excising authorities and power among actors. Thus, governance principles cannot be alienated from the new institutionalism approach even from the definition perspective.

The previous sections give a background of peri-urban land governance in the developing world context. The next section provides descriptions and explanations of land governance in peri-urban areas by focusing more in Tanzania. The paper then, presents the employed research strategy followed by identification of different actors’, analysing their interaction, power relation and its implication for peri-urban land governance. The final section provides conclusions and areas for further research.

Tanzania is the largest country in East Africa with a total area of about 948, 740 km² with approximation of land covering 889, 460 km² (Kombe 2010a, b; URT 2012). Currently, it is estimated that Tanzania has a population of about 56,744,406 of which about 32.2% live in urban areas (Worldometers 2017). This population in urban areas will continue to grow leading to increasing demand for urban land amidst land tenure insecurity. Land governance issues stem from evolving land tenure systems from the traditional system to colonial systems and neo-liberalisation. In 1980s, Tanzania adopted Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) which changed the political, social and economic structure at the national scale and had an impact on land access in peri-urban areas (Briggs and Mwamfupe 2000; Kironde 2009). Despite the establishment of the neo-liberal policies as a result of SAPs, power over land in Tanzania remains vested in the President (Kombe 2010b; Msangi 2011).

According to the Land Acquisition Act of 1967, the Land Act of 1999 and the Urban Planning Act of 2007, the President of the United Republic of Tanzania is mandated to acquire land needed for public use or interest (URT 1967, 1999, 2007b). This is similar to Angola where most urban transformation projects are managed by the presidency (Gastrow 2017) and Ethiopia where the government acquires land for the purposes of urban expansion and development programmes (Adam 2014). The 1977 Tanzania constitution (URT 1977) also provides for protection of private property rights (Kombe 2010a, b; Msangi 2011, 2014). Under these conditions, the peri-urban landholders own the land rights and any kind of development made on the land (Lugoe 2008; Katundu et al. 2013). A land certificate can be offered as an identification to recognise the rights of individuals on land (Lugoe 2008; Katundu et al. 2013; Nuhu 2013). However, it has been argued that land being vested in the presidency in Tanzania and not for sale is just a connotation (UN-Habitat 2010). The state mandate over land rights ownership in post-independence Tanzania gives her powers to expropriate existing land users in the national interest (Chimhowu and Woodhouse 2006). There is also a complexity, where land belongs to the state, because an individual can only sell the property on the land but not the land (UN-Habitat 2010).

In Tanzania, access to land in peri-urban areas has been affected by governance challenges e.g. unregulated and opaque informal land markets, building in the hazardous areas, corruption and land-use conflicts (Kombe 2005; Magigi and Majani 2006; Katundu et al. 2013; Kombe 2010b). Kombe (2005) elaborates that this is linked to planning ideas which do not correspond with the principles on the ground in land-use planning. Corruption and land-use conflict is reportedly caused by inadequate transparency and participation in decision making pertaining to land use as well as ineffective coordination among departments’ dealings with land matters (Kironde 2009; Nuhu and Mpambije 2017). Land matters are also characterised by inequality between men and women, rich and the poor. The urban poor and women do not have equal access to land especially under the customary tenure and formal land systems (Kombe and Kreibich 2001).

The situation in Tanzania is not an isolated case; it cuts across Africa. Mabin et al. (2013) notes that African urban land tenure systems and markets have undermined formal institutional land administration mechanisms because they are complex, ambiguous and expensive. Most countries use outdated land recording systems; they lack modern technology and are highly bureaucratic, inefficient and use inaccurate registries propelling vulnerability of the land administration to corrupt practices (UN- Habitat 2010). This leads to ineffective implementation of national and international land-related policies.

This paper uses data from secondary sources such as published and unpublished literature, as well as government reports relating to peri-urban land governance. Ellis et al. (2011) defines secondary research as an approach which involves the systematic description, analysis and summarisation of the existing research or previously completed studies and applying the result to your own situation. Secondary data is used to make a critical analysis of peri-urban land governance in developing countries and Tanzania in particular in this paper. Research question-driven approach following Cheng and Phillips (2014) is employed, where the researcher has queries and then looks for suitable information to address them. The analysis built on pre-existing data in this paper addresses two questions:

These questions allow the researcher to make analysis based on developed themes related to the subject as discussed in the next sections. The paper is focused on the peri-urban areas because peri-urban land is important for accommodating urbanisation and city expansion. Peri-urban area is also a transition zone between city sprawl and rural surroundings. Peri urban land market is a source of livelihood for various actors and hence contentious. Consequently, there is high tension and conflict between actors towards land access.

Different actors are involved in the process of access and delivery of land in the peri-urban areas in Tanzania (Kombe and Kreibich 2001; Kombe 2005; Kedogo et al. 2010). Actors include the government and its agencies, private sector, development partners, civil society organisations (CSOs), academics and the media, as well as local communities and private land occupiers. The roles of these actors is discussed in the following sub-sections.

UN-Habitat (2010) notes that the roles of the actors in the urban land market do not only cover numerous areas, relations and contexts of activities, but also often overlap rendering decision-making in the land market complex. Hence, peri-urban land governance is dependent upon interaction and power relation among actors with different roles (Katundu et al. 2013). Hilhorst (2010) observes that some actors are affected by their relations and dynamics, which are determined by power and authority influenced by politics and financial resources. As noted by Kedogo et al. (2010), due to inequalities in the distribution of power, certain actors may be included or excluded, consciously or unconsciously. Therefore, this may affect their contribution towards improved land governance (Haapanen 2007). The contribution of certain actors in land governance is hindered by these power relations.

The government plays a multifaceted role as a land owner, policy regulator, land administrator and land-use manager; creating standards and parameters to be followed by local authorities’ and other actors. It may intervene to protect citizens from manipulation by investors and land developers. The urban land market is an arena where urban actors such as government, private developers, land owners, traditional authorities and others earn a living. In this regard, the government actions in land are crucial due to the significance of land to the economy, people’s livelihoods, employment and ultimately stability of the nation (Toulmin 2008). This fits with North (1990:3) idea that an institution is a “humanly devised constraints that structure political and social interactions”. In Tanzania, the president as a steward of land implies that the government is the domineering actor in land maters. Therefore, the government can influence decisions of other actors or hinder effective interactions.

The state as an actor in urban governance in Sub Saharan Africa is involved in the provision of housing, transport infrastructure and serviced land (Mabin et al. 2013). The intervention of government is necessary because not all urban dwellers can afford to access land (UN-Habitat 2010). However, according to Massoi and Norman (2010), there is some confusion about the government actors and their designated responsibilities and roles which create a monopoly of the state over land issues. In situations where stakeholders are not aware of their mandate, including citizens’ lack of awareness on their land rights, the state may exploit its people (Msangi 2011). This scenario may be observed where the state exercises its right to the expropriation of public land (Kamala 2006). Even when citizens make inquiries, they are not listened to nor are the government’s decisions reversible (Kombe 2010b; Msangi 2011, 2014). To some extent, this occurs due to power overlapping between the role of the Ministry of Land and LGAs. Both the Ministry of Lands and LGAs sometimes play similar roles such as regulation of land uses, allocation of land and controlling development over land as indicated in Fig. 1 (Kironde 2009). In the operation and implementation of their duties and roles, in some cases, they overlap each other, resulting into inefficiency in peri-urban land matters (Massoi and Norman 2010).

The next influential actor after the government in peri-urban land matters in Tanzania is the private sector. The private sector has power to influence most land decisions in the country. It is noted that investors have opportunities to access land under the provisions of the Tanzania Investment Act No. 7 of 1997 (URT 1997; Lugoe 2008; Makwarimba and Ngowi 2012). Actors in this category are driven by the supply and demand of land services. Because investors have financial capital, they can influence the government to appropriate land for themselves (GAN 2016). This is a manifestation of economic power translating into political influence, and this is worsened by the commodification of land and neo-liberal economic policies where the state is also more interested in the economic gain from private investment. Investors are also part of land-use conflicts in peri-urban areas, others being the government (central and local), communities and local leaders (Kombe 2010a, b; Msangi 2011; Makwarimba and Ngowi 2012). This is reflected in the land ownership conflicts and extensive urban sprawl and expansion of peri-urban areas in Tanzania (Kombe 2010b; Msangi 2011, 2014). Similar example can be drawn from Central Africa where Angolans and Chinese nationals conflicted because the Chinese investors were engaged in trading informal construction markets. The Angolan accused the Chinese of engaging in ‘business practices that undercut the viability of the citizens ventures’ (Gastrow 2017). Investors have also been accused of displacing locals in the spirit of urbanisation. This justifies the conclusion by UN-Habitat (2010) that the private sector does not care for the needs of the poor. This is in line with North (1990) and Peter (2004) idea that the economy is affected by society’s changes and is embedded in a broader social, cultural, political and power relationships. Both private sector and development partners have financial power. However, they use this power to achieve diverging interest.

Development partners’ in the interest of not being seen to interfere with state autonomy, have concentrated more on building local institutions capacity, providing legal frameworks and sensitisation of citizens (Deininger et al. 2012; Ravnborg et al. 2016). Globalisation has enabled development partners to enforce global strategies aimed at improving service delivery such as the World Bank Land Governance Assessment Framework (Deininger et al. 2012) and the sustainable cities program (Nnkya 2005). However, these strategies can only excel where there is political will and commitment to implement those global strategies (Wolff et al. 2018). Development partners’ efforts seem to have not yielded adequate impact, given the loopholes in peri-urban land governance as well as eminent land conflicts still witnessed in the country. Analysing this type of development partners, Ravnborg et al. (2016:7) concludes that there is a “…certain degree of sequencing in the land-related donor support from initially focusing upon the legal and administrative framework as such and then gradually moving towards issues of implementation”. However, it is also noted that the support of development organisations has concentrated mainly on land titling interventions and less on establishing or maintaining the full range of national as well as sub-national legal and institutional frameworks (Magigi 2010).

Although CSOs are at the helm of fighting for citizen’s land rights, they are often overwhelmed by political coercion and influence (Haapanen 2007). It is evident, from the discussion, that the government and its agencies as well as the private sector, constitute key actors and have the leading role in land acquisition and administration in Tanzania. The civil society is only its close partner (Katundu et al. 2013). CSOs do not command the power and authority as that of investors and development partners simply because they do not possess the financial muscle to influence decisions, and most of the CSOs’ activities are supported by development partners. In this regard, CSOs may complement the efforts of development partners in protecting the land rights of citizens. It is therefore, sometimes felt that CSOs compromise with decisions of funding partners. However, the efforts of CSOs may be thwarted by the government through its repressive mechanism and regulation of their activities. This is commensurate with North (1990) perception that institutions can constrain actors’ sets of incentives and disincentives. This makes actors powerless to undertake community transforming initiatives to avoid conflict with government.

Individual land occupiers and local communities belong to a vulnerable group in society. They are easily exploited by other actors. Investors for example are always striving to acquire land from land occupiers at low cost because of profit maximisation. This situation in Tanzania is similar to other African context. The government and sometimes private landholders can come into conflict due to rapid urbanisation frustrating the lives of peri-urban dwellers (Mabin et al. 2013). In Luanda, Angola, the process of creating world ‘citiness’ poses as a source of conflict among land stakeholders where peri-urban dwellers become vulnerable to displacement (Gastrow 2017). Land occupiers and local communities in this instances are poorly mobilised, lack financial resources and thus do not influence most land governance decisions. Hence, their participation is hindered.

Inadequate public participation is an issue of concern among actors in peri-urban land governance. The Urban Planning Act 2007 and Land Use Planning Act 2007 state that public consultation is mandatory in land matters in Tanzania (URT 2007a, b; Kironde 2009). Despite provisions in the law for citizens’ participation, land access and allocation lack the meaningful participation of citizens in Tanzania. Lack of citizens’ participations has direct impacts on transparency and accountability in land matters (Nuhu and Mpambije 2017). This means that government officers, planners and surveyors will not be accountable for their action as citizens will be ignorant of their actions. The study by Ballonzi (2007) cited in Kironde (2009) point out the Kurasini Redevelopment Scheme as an example of a land development project where the public, especially land owners were not involved in the initial stage. However, the government held several public meetings thereafter to inform community on the decision which was already made about re-planning their areas. Community participation is key in land acquisition processes since it can create multiple stakeholder platforms that bring peri-urban residents face to face in dialogue with planning and land-acquiring authorities (Adam 2014).

As the discussion has unfolded, the interaction among actors can be influenced by power, authority, responsibilities and restrictions in land governance. This has varying implications for different actors in regard to access, control, management and participation in land matters. It is revealed in this section that the interactions and power relations among actors in peri-urban land governance is more influenced by power and authority in terms of political power, economic muscle or both. Notably, this is in line with insights of March and Olsen (2006) that the manner in which authority and power is constituted, exercised, legitimated, controlled and redistributed has significance effects on decision making.

Different land actors as reviewed, play varying roles, and these may be influenced by conflicting motives, interests or perceptions. Some of these actors may play similar or related roles, whereas, others may participate in multiple roles, yet they have different influence on land governance issues. Hence, conflict and collision among actors may be unavoidable. The discussion reveals that some actors are more powerful than others, affecting fair interaction and participation in peri-urban land governance. The existing legal and institutional framework does not provide the supporting environment for equal participation of all actors. It gives room for conflict within and among actors, for example the conflicting laws and regulations which inhibits the central government to share power with local authorities (Massoi and Norman 2010). It is not only important to understand the institutional framework guiding land access in peri-urban areas but also, the motives and perceptions of the different actors towards the governance structure. This is critical in providing effective lessons for policy and theory on peri-urban land use and transaction as well as improving land governance in general. The discussion also emphasises the significance of participation in improving land governance in peri-urban areas; therefore, integration of sectors and coordination of actors is not only a necessity but unavoidable for effective sustainable planning.