Abstract:
An important goal of church planting and growth in Africa was to
acquire land required for the provision of public goods such as schools,
clinics and cemeteries. This made the church become the owner of
relatively large parcels of land in communities across Africa. As would
be expected, the increasing competition over land and the ensuing
conflicts which have become more and more common in the continent
have not left the church unaffected. Indeed, episodes of conflict over
land between churches and host communities are common in Africa‘s
land conflict history. This paper, based on primary and secondary data,
provides evidence of land conflicts between churches and members of
host communities. The Roman Catholic Church in Weh in the Northwest
of Cameroon is used as a case for examining the issue. Informed by the
conflict theory, the paper attempts an analysis of the underlying factors,
dynamics and settlement of land disputes involving the church and some
Weh indigenes. The study reveals that the mounting wave of land
disputes between the Catholic Church and Weh indigenes that
manifested itself in the form of conflicting borderlines and competing
ownership claims which were brought about by both informal and formal
institutions charged with the resolution of such conflicts. While some of
the disputes were laid to rest, others remain unsolved due to the
inefficiency of customary and statutory land conflict resolution bodies as
well as the attitude of the disputants. It is, therefore, time for land
administration systems to be enhanced and developed to end the maldistribution of land, forestall land disputes or minimize their
occurrence, and achieve a quick and effective resolution of such
conflicts. The paper concludes that the Catholic Church and its host
communities need to rethink their land deals