A history of land tenure system in laalo qilee district, Qellem wallaga zone Ca.1941-2002

Abstract

This study is a historical survey of land tenure system in Laalo Qilee District from 1941- 2002. The purpose of the study is to reconstruct the socio-economic and political history of Laalo Qilee District of Qellem Wallaga Zone, focusing on the periods between 1941 and 2002. The year 1941, was a turning point in the history of the district because of the restoration of imperial regime with land redistribution policy in large scale for soldiers, nobility, church, gabbars and the like in Laalo Qilee District while the year 2002 is a landmark when the Regional Government of Oromia (RGO), enacted a policy related to land under the supervision of EPRDF. In Laalo Qilee district, the peasants of the district faced socio-economic and political problems and loss of their indigeneous rights over their land starting from the conquest of Emperor Menelik II up to the period under study. This thesis reconstructed the history of land tenure systems in Laalo Qilee District based on relevant archival, primary, secondary and oral sources. Appropriate data from different sources like archival materials, government published reports, manuscripts, theses and dissertations, books and oral informations are gathered and organized. The collected data with oral information carefully arranged and crosschecked then the data are analyzed, interpreted and narrated chronologically. It is in this way that the history of land tenure of the district under study from the restoration of Emperor Hayiläselassé to the first decade of 21st century is constructed. The thesis offered background knowledge related to the pre-1941 period. In short, the main objective of the thesis is to show the local changes observed in Laalo Qilee District in the context of change in policy and government at national level. The restoration of the imperial rule and the subsequent reforms that imperial government introduced, especially in relation to administration, land and the subsequent reactions of the people of the district to and against the policy are the main themes of analysis for the period between 1941 and 1974. Thus, this thesis argues that the socio-economic and administrative changes made by Emperor Hayiläselasé‟s government in the post-1941 period brought little improvement in the living conditions of most of the local people of the district. The study also tries to examine developments that Laalo Qilee District witnessed during the Därg regime (1974- 1991). The military regime‟s attempts to place its power on a better position by introducing several measures at a national level had their own negative and positive effects in socioeconomic and political life of the people of district. The thesis also examines the land tenure policy since the fall of Därg in 1991 and its subsequent development under EPRDF