What is Foreign Land Acquisition

Most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Tanzania, liberalized their land policies in the early 1990s because of the pressure from neo-liberal institutions such as the World Bank and IMF. The 1999 Tanzanian Land Laws are hailed to be the most progressive legislations in the Sub-Saharan region in terms of decentralization of land administrative powers and protection of customary tenure. However, they are still hampered with both policy weakness and implementation challenges. The standards used in compensation are still weak and unclear and subject to arbitrariness. Consequently, foreign investors or the government in cases of public interest acquisitions can acquire land without fully compensating the landholders. For land holders to get fair compensation in Tanzania there is need for both legislative amendments and change in practice. This chapter explores the compensation of landholders in Tanzania.