Land Dispute Settlement between Farmers and Local Administration

Context and background: Urban expansion is a common phenomenon in every country. While the city expands, the government employs expropriation law to take land. In such cases, land disputes arise, especially when the state takes the land without compensating the land rights holders. The expropriated may appeal to the administrative body and formal justice system for proper compensation. Goals and Objectives: This study scrutinizes land disputes and their settlement between farmers and local administrations in Addis Ababa. Methodology: The study utilized a qualitative research method under ethnographic research design. The researcher reviewed 156 court cases from the Urban Land Clearing and Compensation Tribunal Commission (ULCCTC), Six Federal First Instance Court (FFIC), and the Federal Supreme Court (FSC) which are found in the six expansion frontier sub-cities. Additionally, interviews and FGDs are conducted with land disputants, judges, and experts. Results: The findings revealed that most of farmers received insignificant compensation, and their land was mis-measured, given less value price, and delayed compensation payment. Besides, farmers face illegal evictions by local administration during expropriation and submit their cases to the formal justice system. Conversely, the local administration reverses the land dispute court cases by appealing to other courts. Court cases indicate a huge asymmetry of power between farmers and local administration before the court. Judge's decisions at the Tribunal Commission were reversed by other courts either by changing the essence of the argument or by appeal. As a result, a plural formal justice system is in play to sustain the land dispute.