Frightening developments are beginning to emerge as the Kombo area moves towards development where small land owners are being threatened with eviction under the pretext that their ancestors were just allowed to stay on the land but not to own it.
Having invested all their lives on such land with a traditional land tenure system under which the first to clear the forest are considered to be the owners, how could a state allow such people just to be evicted and become landless families overnight. The state cannot be aloof. It should intervene to create a win-win situation. It could develop a compensation scheme for those with claims to avoid conflict. It should protect those who have settled to avoid conflict. This is the way forward.
