Property and Land Ownership Disputes on the Rise in Mogadishu

[Deeq A.]

Kaxda is a post-1990 district in Mogadishu near semi-rural fiefdoms.

Mogadishu (PP News Desk) — Since 1991 Mogadishu has undergone a phenomenal expansion partly because of demographic transformation that makes the capital city a choice for relocation for people living in other regions. The transformation took an uneven path ranging from an increased number of districts to the haphazard and belated planning permissions for areas that newcomers had settled after 1990. Areas that were known as zone militari (military zones) near the industrial road (Jidka Warshadaha) have become residential areas made up of Hawl Wadaag, Hodan and Wardhiigley, but not divided by the roads that define district jurisdictions.

In post-1991 areas like Kaxda, a new district, property and land ownership disputes occupy most of the local civil courts’ time. A teacher who bought a plot of land in Kaxda had found out that sellers hoodwinked him into believing that the ownership deed (atto di proprietà) was authentic. After one month, owners of the plot of the land came to the teacher who was building a fence around the plot of land and asked him how he had acquired the plot of land. “I showed them the documents for selling the plot of land to me, the details of sellers and and notary public that certified the sale of the house before the district court registered the transaction” the teacher said. The men who claimed to have owned the plot of land used a fake ownership deed issued at Abdalla Shideeye forgery bazaar in Bakara Market.

Other potential property and land disputes that may overwhelm Mogadishu’s civil courts include the semi-rural fiefdoms (goofaf) whose owners had been granted planning permission to be able to sell plots of land to buyers who find it difficult to persuade former owners to vacate the plots of land they had sold.

© Puntland Post, 2024

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