Khamdang-Ramjar Member of Parliament (MP) Kuenga Loday has been sentenced to five years in prison by the Trashiyangtse dzongkhag court yesterday for illegal construction of a road in a restricted area.

The court also sentenced his brother, the Khamdang Mangmi, Sangay Tempa to four years and three months in prison for his involvement.

The other four men,  three are Mangmi’s sons, were also convicted for their involvement in the case and sentenced to three years and nine months each in prison.

In July 2021, a French court ruled against a group of Indigenous Bunong farmers from Mondulkiri in Northeastern Cambodia. Represented by French Laywer Fiodor Rilov, and with civil society support, the group accused the French Bolloré Group and their subsidiary company, Compagnie du Cambodge (controlled by Socfinasia) of illegal land seizures and the wanton destruction of Bunong sacred forests and their way of life.

Main photo: Indonesia’s Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto, left, with President Joko Widodo in October 2019.  AP

Singapore/Jakarta | Hundreds of high-ranking retired military officers have taken Indonesia’s Minister for Defence Prabowo Subianto to court in an effort to resolve a long-simmering dispute over land.

• More than 1,000 families were entitled to payments for land needed to construct the Gorontalo Outer Ring Road, a national priority infrastructure project on Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island.
• The road will connect Djalaluddin Airport in the capital of Gorontalo province with the province’s main ferry port.
• Spending on the project reached almost 1 trillion rupiah ($69 million) between 2014 and 2017.
• A senior provincial official and two surveyors have been jailed in connections with corruption in the land acquisition process, while anot

Rabindra Maharjan from Bhainsepati has a government document which states that he constructed a hospital in Chandrapur municipality-8 in Rautahat. The document, which is on the letterhead of the Buddhist Philosophy Promotion and Monastery Development Committee under the Ministry of Culture, states that the hospital was completed on September 24, 2016, at an investment of little over Rs 433 million.

But, according to the municipality, no hospital has been constructed in the area in the past eight years.

Land is the most important asset in most parts of the world that people can own, including Uganda. In Buganda, land is the way of life as the kingdom’s cultural aspirations are based on land, hence titles like Ssaabataka for a prince who is going to become the Kabaka. Clan heads and elders in Buganda are known as Abataka. However, this scenario isn’t only prevalent in Buganda. Land is a major asset across the country. It is the biggest means of production since our economy is agricultural-based. 

Former Kiambu Governor William Kabogo is entangled in a Sh4.5 billion bribery court row with investors behind the Tatu City real estate project.

The investors have accused Mr Kabogo of illegally holding onto five title deeds as part of a ploy to blackmail them into ceding a five percent stake in a section of the multibillion-shilling project.

The majority of Kenyans are perturbed by the high cost of seeking justice in the Environment and Land court, a new survey shows.

The study by the Land Development and Governance Institute (LDGI) shows that nearly nine in ten Kenyans (86 percent) see the cost as high, effectively making it difficult for them to secure justice.

Lengthy litigation at Kenya’s courts increases legal and court fees paid by litigants to courts or layers.

Construction of the Lokichar to Lamu crude oil pipeline whose implementation was set for 2020 will be delayed until the end of the year due to land acquisition issues.

The 820km pipeline, which is a key component of the Sh2.5 trillion Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (Lappset) corridor project, is facing challenges related to land compensation.

Front Line Defenders strongly condemns the systematic targeting and continued attacks against human rights defender Elvis Brown Luma Mukuna. The recent attacks against the human rights defender appear to be part of a pattern of reprisals for his legitimate and peaceful work in defence of human rights.