264 Scarcity and Surfeit
formulating policy and preparing national sector plans and budgets
(including regional allocations);
ensuring law enforcement;
undertaking national studies and research;
assisting and advising regional administrations; and
entering into contracts and international agreements that have national
~ignificance.~~In each Region there are specialised sector bureaux that implement sectoral
policies and programmes in consultation with the regional executive. As
described above, the regional water bureaux are the main institutions to
develop and manage water resources in the country. Beneath the regional
council, there are democratically elected councils at the wereda (district) and
kebele (village or villages) levels. At the moment these have few human and
financial resources, impeding the effective implementation of the govern-
ment's decentralisation process." The wereda has a similar structure to the
regional self-government outlined above. National and regional councils have
the power to create intermediate administrative structures between the
regional and the wereda units. Most regions have done so, creating two or
more zones per region, although the recent emphasis is to maintain a more
decentralised structure down to the wereda level.
In relation to management of water resources, there has been no devolu-
tion of authority below the regional water bureaux to the wereda. This com-
plicates the management, operation and maintenance of water resources and
infrastructure at local rural and urban levels. Further constraints include:
an absence of community management (community participation) units
in the organisational structure of the water sector;
lack of skilled and experienced labour, especially in technical fields; and
institutional weakness in managing, operating and maintaining existing
fa~ilities.~~Ethiopia has a long history of insecure 'ownership' rights to land. The present
government has initiated some positive policy changes, such as abolishing the
frequent reallocations of land by peasant associations that were common
throughout Ethiopia during the last government. The constitution affirms that
land remains under the 'control' of the people first and then to the government.
The purchase and sale of land is prohibited. Landholders are entitled only
to usufruct rights" to land and resources, such as trees. Any investor wanting
to engage in large-scale agriculture must obtain land on a lease agreement
from the relevant regional government. No land may be given in a manner
prejudicial to the rights and interests of peasants. An investor must also