Africa-Press – Lesotho. In all countries, the granting of state land to private entrepreneurs for the purposes of real estate, industrial, agricultural or commercial development is an issue of public interest.
This is a politically sensitive issue as there is a risk of conflict of interest for state officials who approve the granting of lease land to private parties.
The distribution of state land therefore requires transparency and a high degree of public morality. In matters of public morality, Canada, a country which has a Westminster-style parliamentary democracy, has just taught a very valuable lesson this week.
Indeed, in the province of Ontario, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Steve Clark, resigned on September 4, 2023 following a scandal over the allocation of Crown lands to private entrepreneurs for housing needs.
The Ontario government had decided to sell part of a green region (Greenbelt) to private entrepreneurs to allow them to build 50,000 houses in order to compensate for the lack of housing in the province.
Following disturbing reports published in the press, two independent authorities in Ontario investigated this matter: Auditor General Bonnie Lysy and Parliamentary Ethics Commissioner David Wake.
In his report, the Auditor General said that the land allocation process was not transparent enough and that certain entrepreneurs were favored. The Ethics Commissioner ruled that the minister failed in his duty to oversee the process by leaving the decision to allocate the Crown land to his chief of staff.
For More News And Analysis About Lesotho Follow Africa-Press
