Chikosa Mozesi Silungwe of the Malawi Law Commission will present his paper on land reformation in Malawi. Since 1996, Malawi has embarked on a new cycle of land reform to resolve the land question. The reform takes place in the context of the ‘new wave’ of land reform which is supposedly ‘more human-centred’ and fosters ‘pro-poor economic growth.’ In this context Malawi adopted a National Land Policy (the ‘Policy) in 2002. Malawi is a heavily agro-based economy and the Policy is meant to guide the country’s land reform and contribute to sustained economic growth. After adoption of the Policy, a number of legal and policy initiatives were developed to tackle the land question. These initiatives include the Law Commission’s work on reviewing core statutes on land tenure, land administration and management and land transfer. Since 2005 the state has embarked on a land redistribution programme based on the willing seller/willing buyer approach.

This paper examines the extent to which the legal and policy initiatives enhance or undermine the ‘benefit’ to key constituencies in the country’s land reform comprising the state, commercial farmers and the land deprived, particularly in the context of resolving the land question. Confusion and disjuncture pervade the various initiatives. The Law Commission’s work shows an automatic transition from policy to law which only entrenches the irresolution of the land question. A triangulated examination of key constituencies reveals a multiverse of parochial interests. There is a lack of synergy between legal initiatives and policy intervention under the country’s land redistribution programme. In sum, the responses to the land question have merely served as technologies of normalisation. Resolving the land question requires a more holistic approach to the political economy.