Customary Land titling and inter-generational wealth transfer in Malawi: Will secondary Land rights holders maintain their Land rights?

摘要

Malawi promulgated Customary Land Act, 2016, as a step towards achieving triple objectives of land tenure security, efficient land-use and improved land market. Customary land, however, consists of multiple and competing land rights. Mobilizing the concept of intergenerational wealth transfer, this paper explores the extent to which secondary land rights are going to be preserved within the new law. The paper explores three questions namely: what provisions has the new law provided for registration of secondary land rights? How is the new law shaping motivations for registration of secondary land rights? What are the likely outcomes of the new law on land tenure security of secondary land rights? Employing mixed research methodology, the study findings demonstrate that the assumption that land titling will protect secondary land rights is grossly misplaced. Instead, land insecurity among secondary land rights holders may become more visible and worse than before. This is largely so because the new law has failed to respond to the lineal logic of customary land rights embedded in lineal kinship.