Land disputes in Benin : Plots of land or Beninese ill-being

As if to say his exasperation at the many land disputes that clutter his offices, the first instance court of Abomey Calavi banged its fist on the table by simply sending a dozen surveyors behind bars. The scene took place in Togba district. These were prosecuted by the prosecutor for theft of title, more precisely, they are accused of having carried out name changes on plots without having the quality. Indeed, from memory, this is a first in the recent history of our country.

Pierre Matchoudo

Abomey Calavi, Sèmè and many other localities are reputed to be the seat of land mafias in which are sometimes involved actors who are a priori unsuspected. So, buy space in these localities, it means taking the risk of ending up in court for disputes that do not end or end in tragedy. The most frequent source of conflicts is the multiple sale of the same land to several people as well as the requirement by the heirs that contracts of sale, sometimes concluded for decades are reviewed on the pretext that they had not been consulted or that their parents had underestimated the value of the land. To this are added all kinds of subterfuge to establish false costs to the detriment of buyers as well as acts of corruption detrimental to the State.

More, beyond these obvious reasons, It is the voracious appetite of the Beninese for land that largely explains the development of this mafia despite multiple reforms undertaken to secure land. Indeed, don't we say that every Beninese dreams of owning his own piece of land to build his own house one day? ? Indeed, one of the very first projects of ordinary Beninese is to save some of their income to buy land to build their own house one hypothetical day. For that, he is ready for all the hardships and risks associated with land tenure insecurity. Meanwhile, he lives badly and subjects his whole family to a bad life that never ends. Some are ready, to fulfill their dream, to buy spaces even in areas unsuitable for habitation. Others are building homes from another era, without modern amenities, without adequate infrastructure. The less fortunate do not finish their house until the edge of old age and are content only to have accomplished something to pass on to their children.. And all this is done in a chaos that makes our cities spaces devoid of any aesthetic.

This obsession and the discomfort it causes can be explained by a lack of housing policies adapted to the needs of a country like Benin.. Let's say it right off the bat : each Beninese should not have his own house. According to projections, the population of Benin will revolve around 15 million a year 2030. If everyone should build their own house, we might run out of space. Or, the national territory is not expandable. We only have 114 763km2 on which we are building, let's farm, roads, community social infrastructure ...

It is therefore imperative to put in place housing policies that contribute to the reduction of building space. In other words, we must build in height. This type of habitat has many advantages, such as reducing the cost of erecting sanitation works and building community social infrastructure.

Certainly, good people have always sung that Beninese do not like living in high buildings, that he prefers his own house. They also add that with power cuts, it is a risk to live in high buildings. More, the fact is, we never suggested anything else. The best real estate projects carried out, these are so-called social housing in the form of individual houses which sometimes look more like henhouses.

It is therefore important that new policies be implemented to finally allow Beninese to live decently and finally to enjoy healthier and aesthetic spaces.. Such policies can only be implemented by real estate developers, whether public or private.