More than 40,000 people who have been saving up for a home for six years as part of a public housing scheme have been left enraged and uncertain by a new directive from the Tigray Interim Administration (TIA) altering the terms of pre-war land lease contracts.
Tens of thousands of people signed up for a government-backed housing initiative in 2018 and began forming 20-member associations hoping to secure a lease for 84 square meter plots apiece.
Each association paid a 20,000 birr registration fee and members have spent the last few years saving between 1,000 and 2,000 birr a month in closed accounts as part of the housing scheme.
However, a law ratified last month by Getachew Reda, TIA president, foregoes the prospect of individual plots under the scheme. Instead, it directs associations in Tigray’s major urban areas, including Mekelle, Axum, Adigrat, and Adwa, to construct cooperative five-storey apartment buildings with the cost of construction to be determined by the respective municipal administrations.
The regional Bureau of Land and Mines has been mandated to issue certificates to associations that have saved at least 15 percent of these construction costs before transferring the plots of land to them through a lottery draw system.
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The directive states that the terms are only applicable to associations registered before November 2020. It also places a temporary suspension on the registration of new associations.
The members of these associations decry the terms of the new directive as unfair.
Among them is Yebrah Yishaq, who has been saving to secure his own 84 square meter plot in Mekelle through the region’s housing scheme commonly referred to as Seba kare since 2019.
“You cannot ratify a law to govern past events. The administration needs to respect the original deal and use the new law for future house seekers” Yebrah said.
Meles Metkel, another resident who spent the past two years waiting for his lease, demanded fairness in the administration’s housing system.
“Before the war, the regional government transferred lands to 1,032 associations in two rounds. We were supposed to be part of the third. We have been saving for the initiative we knew about, not for whatever they’ve come up with now,” he told The Reporter.
Gebregziabher Abrha, head of the Tigray Housing Development Agency, asserts that the residents knew about the changes to the housing scheme prior to the two-year war, which started in late 2020.
“We organized public gatherings back in February 2019. We told all associations that a new directive that would instruct them to build apartments was being articulated,” he said. “There is no third round anymore. But, we still kept their right of property ownership through the new law, by maintaining the legality of their associations under a new scheme.”
Habtamu Hagazi, another association member who spoke with The Reporterstresses that the new directive fails to recognize the currency devaluation brought about by the recent economic reforms.
The scheme’s participants estimate their total savings at close to four billion birr, and some are demanding to know where their money has actually ended up.
“The Administration is telling us it cannot afford to pay compensation for the land it acquires from the farmers, and is forced to let us lease what is available. They are saying we should build apartments because there is a scarcity. But, where is the money we have saved? Why don’t they use that and let us have our plot?” asked Meles.
A senior officer at Dedebit Microfinance, which holds the closed accounts and deposits, says the participants’ saving estimates are exaggerated.
“They are not considering the average savings in their calculation, rather the maximum savings of an association. So, the collective savings they mention are a bit high,” said the officer.
He disclosed that all members are free to withdraw their savings. However, the act would cost their respective association its validity.
Residents who conversed with The Reporter say they oppose the notion of dissolving their associations as the value of their savings has depreciated markedly.
“We cannot do anything substantial if we take the money out now. We are saying we can’t even build the apartments with what we currently have. That is why we are opposing the application of the new directive in the first place,” said Yebrah.
The officer at Dedebit Microfinance agrees.
“They are right. The devaluation puts them at risk. We hope the administration gives them an immediate applicable response,” he said.
The residents have repeatedly held demonstrations in a bid to make their feelings known to regional officials. The latest of these protests took place in front of the TIA president’s office earlier this month.
“We’ve pleaded with the administration time and again. Our appeals are falling on deaf ears,” Meles said.
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