Mayor Adanech Abiebie’s administration has frozen efforts to register plots by farmers in the peripheries of Addis Abeba following reports of fraud.

The suspension coincides with an announcement that municipal authorities have agreed with administrators of the Oromia Regional State to finalise the demarcation of the administrative boundaries between the capital and special zones under the regional state. Officials claim that the demarcation would settle simmering disputes over farmlands on the city’s edges.

The registration had begun last month, with the authorities hoping to register plots held by close to 34,000 farmers in six of the capital’s districts within three months. The Addis Abeba Land Development & Management Bureau deployed its experts to assist district offices with the registrations.

However, Jemal Aliye, head of the Bureau, suspended the work two weeks ago.

Tesfaye Chane, the Bureau’s director for landholding affairs, disclosed that the experts came across numerous controvertible documents submitted by farmers to prove land-use rights. The number of farmers identified for inclusion in the registration rose by over 3,000 from the initial estimate, the director disclosed. The Bureau and the city’s Urban Agriculture Development Commission were tasked to verify the authenticity of these documents.

Land authorities had initially introduced a directive that allows farmers within the capital’s boundaries to receive landholding certificates in March 2021. They planned to use the registrations as input when they began issuing the certificates. The directive, which was hoped to boost confidence in land tenure security, also gave formal recognition to houses built on farm plots of up to 500Sqm.

Tens of thousands of farmers in the capital’s peripheries are believed to have been displaced over the past two decades to give way for public housing projects and real estate developers. Close to 32,000 farmers in five districts have been displaced or forced to hand over part of their plots since 2017. Many were forced to abandon their livelihood in agriculture to be employed as daily labourers, maids and security personnel after consuming the nominal compensation they received for their losses.

Gelane Girma, a father of six, has ceded land to public housing projects. A resident in Wereda 10 of the Aqaqi-Qality District, he surrendered a 10hct plot in 2016 for constructing the Koye Fiche condominium site in the southeastern fringes of Addis Abeba. The housing project comprises over 10,000 units. Gelane hoped receiving a landholding certificate could help him transfer part of his remaining two hectares to his children.

“I wanted to pass the land on to my children,” he told Fortune.

His hopes have been put on hold.