Land policies in Malawi: an examination of the colonial legacy

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Abstract
The colonial bequest in the history of land matters in Malawi began with the alienation of the best agricultural lands in the country to a few large estate owners. The promised security of tenure to the original inhabitants of the estates was never observed in full measure, and the colonial government itself attempted to remedy the original error by beginning to re-acquire land for African settlement as well as to attempt to offer some security of tenure to the African residents. These two efforts were accelerated and refined by the African government, and new related areas of relief were also introduced for the benefit of the African masses. The masses are, by nature, conservative, and the African government, forward-looking and attempting to redress the balance of unequal opportunities while at the same time formulating plans to get rid of the shackles of budgetary deficits, has to plan carefully and influence persuasively. Many of the changes introduced have yet to be tried over a number of years in different situations. For example, there is little public demand, as in Kenya, for individual title to land. ‘So although there is land pressure, the people do not want to split the family, and they do not yet appreciate the freedom of transfer provided by the Registered Land Act.’ There is, too, what is described as the disadvantages of the matrilineal system: ‘The men are a floating population and it is the women who are tied to the land. Family life is unstable and there is no solid ground on which to build a modern form of land tenure.’

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