Sierra Leone’s Lands Minister, Dr. Turad Senesi, says there is currently no formal landowner in the country because land ownership has not been established through a comprehensive title-registration system.
“As it is currently in Sierra Leone, there’s no land owner,” Senesi said, adding that all land belongs to the state.
His comments come as the government prepares to introduce a new system that will systematically adjudicate and register land and issue title certificates to recognised owners.
Senesi said people who currently hold conveyances will be able to submit them for verification. Government surveyors will establish boundaries and assess competing claims before legitimate interests are registered.
“There’s going to be a systematic registration for everybody owning a land. Present your conveyance. We will send our team of surveyors to verify before registering and issuing a land title certificate,” he said.
The minister said the proposed certificate would provide something that has been missing from Sierra Leone’s land system for decades: a formal record of ownership backed by registration.
The system will also create a digital record when ownership changes hands, making it easier to trace transactions and verify who has a recognised interest in a property.
The reform is aimed at addressing longstanding problems in Sierra Leone’s land sector, including double sales, competing claims, disputed boundaries, family disputes and fraudulent transactions.
The existing legal framework recognises state, private and customary land rights. The National Land Commission Act 2022 provides mechanisms for registering land rights and resolving disputes, while the customary land framework provides for certification of customary interests.
The proposed reforms would establish a more systematic process for determining and recording those interests through surveying, adjudication and registration.
Senesi said formal title could also make land more useful as an economic asset, particularly for large-scale farmers seeking loans by using their property as collateral.
The government says Cabinet has approved the Land Adjudication Bill and Land Title Registration Regulations, which are intended to establish a unified National Land Register. The proposed legislation still requires parliamentary approval before it becomes law.
If implemented, the system would create a central digital record of registered land interests and provide buyers with a way to verify property ownership before completing transactions.
For Sierra Leone, where land disputes have been a persistent source of conflict, the reform represents an attempt to move from a largely document-based system towards one in which land rights are formally adjudicated, registered and digitally traceable.
