MINISTRY OF LANDS AND FORESTRY

GHANA

EMERGING LAND TENURE ISSUES

ACCRA

22 August 2003
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 3

1.1 POPULATION, LAND TENURE AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ...............4
1.2 LAND TENURE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT POLICIES.......................5
2.O LAND TENURE IN GHANA........................................................................... 7
2.1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND...............................................................................7
2.2 INTERESTS IN LAND .............................................................................................8
2.2.1 Allodial Interest ..................................................................................................9
2.2.2 Customary freehold.............................................................................................9
2.2.3 Common law freehold.......................................................................................10
2.2.4 Leaseholds.........................................................................................................10
2.2.5 Lesser Interests..................................................................................................10
2.2.6 The State’s Right of Eminent Domain..............................................................11
2.3 CATEGORIES OF LANDS IN GHANA AND THEIR MANAGEMENT ...........11
2.3.1 Public land ........................................................................................................11
2.3.2 Customary Land................................................................................................12
2.4 LAND TENURE AND GENDER...........................................................................13
2.5 RIGHTS TO COMMON RESOURCES .................................................................14
3.0 LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORKS FOR LAND
ADMINISTRATION............................................................................................. 14
3.1 LEGAL FRAMEWORK .........................................................................................14
3.2 INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK ........................................................................15
3.2.1 Public Institutions .............................................................................................15
3.2.2 Private Institutions ............................................................................................16
3.3 NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS (NGOs) IN LAND
ADMINISTRATION.....................................................................................................16
3.3.1 Care International..............................................................................................16
3.3.2 Land For Life ....................................................................................................18
3.4 DECENTRALISATION, LAND TENURE AND LAND ADMINISTRATION ..18
3.5 ENFORCEMENT ....................................................................................................19
4.0 CRITICAL EMERGING TENURE ISSUES................................................... 19
4.1 Plural legal environment ..........................................................................................19
4.2 General indiscipline in the land market ...................................................................19
4.3 Absence of a national database on land ownership .................................................20
4.4 Chieftaincy disputes.................................................................................................20
4.5 Fragmentation ..........................................................................................................20
4.6 Distribution of Stool/Skin Land Revenue................................................................21
4.7 Compulsory Land Acquisition.................................................................................21
4.8 Insecurity of Tenure.................................................................................................21
4.9 Accessibility to Land ...............................................................................................21
4.10 Weak Land Administration System .......................................................................21
4.11 Lack of consultation with customary landowners .................................................22
4.12 Management of common land resources ...............................................................22
5.0 GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES ...................................................................... 22
5.1 THE NATIONAL LAND POLICY.........................................................................22
5.1.1 The Policy Formulation Process - A Participatory Approach ..........................22
5.1.2 Aim of the Land Policy.....................................................................................23
5.1.3 Objectives of the Policy ....................................................................................24
5.2 THE LAND ADMINISTRATION PROGRAM .....................................................24
5.2.1 Social Assessment Studies................................................................................25

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 5.2.2 Project Objectives & Components...................................................................25
5.2.3 Project Funding.................................................................................................26
5.2.4 Implementing Arrangements ............................................................................27
6.0 CONCLUSION.............................................................................................. 27
ANNEX 1: MANDATE OF PUBLIC LAND SECTOR AGENCIES ..................... 28
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................ 29
ANNEX 2: PREPARATION TEAM ..................................................................... 32

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 GHANA
EMERGING LAND TENURE ISSUES

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Ghana has a unique position in the political history of sub-Saharan Africa,
being the first country south of the Sahara to attain independence. It also
championed the struggle for independence and the political and economic
emancipation of the rest of the countries on the continent in the 1960s. It
has also been prominent in several of the mishaps of political instability on
the continent. In the 1970s it became an example of an unstable political
economy, dominated by coup d’etats, insecurity, economic decline,
corruption and mismanagement. In the last decade Ghana has again become
a clear example of political stability, economic recovery, political and
economic liberalization in the West Africa sub-region. Ghana shares these
experiences with several other countries in the sub-region for which a
conference of this nature is of utmost importance.

Land tenure issues and resource management are usually discussed and
analysed within localised economies, being guided principally by local
customs and tradition. However, the need to consider this in a sub-regional
context is increasingly becoming important as several of the critical issues
cut across borders and usually require collective action – rising population
and its impact, pursuing similar economic development strategies, combating
desertification, diminishing agricultural lands, land tenure dynamics and
management, managing river basins, managing and controlling the activities
of pastoralists and cattle rustlers, sub-regional transportation, movement of
people, conflicts and refugees. The continent-wide political agenda of
regional integration, ECOWAS protocols, the African Union and the New
Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) in the face of frequent political
conflicts and civil wars call for collective initiatives and responsibilities in
tackling the many socio-economic problems in the sub-region.

This conference is therefore in order, appropriate and timely as the

importance of land to national development and the role land resource has to
play in poverty reduction cannot be overemphasised. There is a spatial
dimension to all human activities as nothing takes place without taking a
place. Land is the basic asset on which the wealth of most nations and
Ghana in particular is built. It represents the main form of wealth
accumulation and the principal source of economic and political power. It is
the basic instrument of overall development policy, performing both an
indirect facilitating role and a direct and active one. A well articulated land
policy which takes on board broad regional issues can channel economic
growth more intensely which can result in poverty alleviation. This means
that policies regarding ownership, use, management, transfers, tenures,
interests and rights in land and natural resources must be formulated within
the broad socio-economic policies of a country. There is a basic competition
among users of land – agriculture, forestry, mining, human settlement,
infrastructure development, ecological sites, sanctuaries etc. The land

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economy of the country must provide the appropriate socio-economic
environment within the broader sub-regional framework for the management
of such competition as it is critical to the survival of people and the
performance of the economy.

It is necessary to appreciate the importance of land both as a natural

resource and a marketable commodity. As a natural resource land must be
managed on a sustained basis such that the needs of the present generation
— good housing, farmlands, forest reserves, water resources, minerals, etc.
are met without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their
own needs. As a marketable commodity land must be traded in a well
fashioned and regulated market environment that creates certainty and
security for tenures and land rights and for the enforcement of contracts.
Land also provides a more attractive form of investment in developing
economies where alternatives in manufacturing and the service industry are
both few and subject to great risks. The processes of allocating land for
various uses, accessibility to land for development, security of tenure and
the policies put in place to regulate the ownership, management, use and
dealings in land therefore become important. A good land policy should
reflect this and the behaviour of landowners is critical in achieving
sustainable development.

The paper discusses land tenure, land rights and resource management in
Ghana within the context of high population growth, economic development
policies, gender, decentralisation, legal and institutional frameworks, critical
emerging issues as well as current efforts at resolving any imbalances. The
paper argues that integrating land issues into the broader national
development agenda will involve among other things, a reversal of an undue
weight of state control over land rights and tenures administration. Land
ownership, land rights and tenures in Ghana are administered in a plural legal
environment with customary laws and norms operating along side statutes.
Customary lands form about 78 percent of the total land area in Ghana. Of
the remaining 22 percent the state owns outright about 20 percent where
only statute law is applied to land management and the remaining two
percent is held in a dual relationship where the state takes over the
management responsibility for the land while the customary owners retain
the ownership of the land. The state has elaborate institutional and legal
structures for the management of all these types of land which are discussed
in the paper.

1.1 POPULATION, LAND TENURE AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

The greatest challenge to resource management and land tenure is high
population growth. Ghana’s population as at the 2000 population census
stands at 18.9 million which is an increase of 53.8 percent over the 1984
population figure of 12.3 million (Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), 2002).
This represents an intercensal growth rate of 2.7 percent per annum. Whilst
this rate is lower than the rate for the West Africa (2.9%) it is high in
comparison to the rate for the world (2.0%) (GSS, 2002). The current
population yields a density of 79.3 persons per km2. 43.8 percent of the

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national population is urban, but there is wide regional variations, for
example the urban population of the Greater Accra Region is 87.7 percent.
Whilst this may pose no great pressure on land, the same cannot be said of
pressure on resources or what the land can generate. For example the
population density for the Greater Accra region is 895.5 persons/km2,
indicating the pressures that can be placed on land resources and
infrastructure. The population figure also obscures areas with over-
concentration of people such as parts of the Upper East region where high
population has led to excessive land fragmentation into sub-economic units.

1.2 LAND TENURE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT POLICIES

Past economic development plans have usually been silent on land issues,
given that there was generally no pressure on land. The land issue was also
considered as problematic, sensitive and generally too complex for discussion
in programmes of that nature. Consequently, land tenure development,
providing security of tenure and general land economy development did not
feature much in economic development dialogues and documents, even
though land tenure was always cited as one of the critical constraints facing
agriculture (see for example the 1975/76-1979/80 Five-year development
plan).

The colonial administration employed selective policy instrument for land

resource management rather than developing an overall policy framework.
The selected policies related mainly to timber and mining concessions and
were meant to protect the interest of the concessionaires and the grantors.
There were no policies relating to reforestation and replanting. Land policies
were mainly related to expropriation (with compensation) and appropriation
(without compensation) of land.

The Convention Peoples Party’s ((CPP) – first post-independence

government) economic and social policies were predicated upon the ‘Big
Push’ paradigm of development orthodoxy (Aryeetey and Harrigan, 2000;
Hutchful, 2002) prevailing at the time. The central feature was to build up a
stock of capital through industrialisation to generate growth, within a
centrally planned economy, the development of a welfare state and the
proliferation of bureaucratic controls (Rimmer, 1992). The land policy of the
regime was echoed by President Nkrumah when launching the seven-year
development plan (1963/64 – 1969/70):
the State will be controlling on behalf of the community the dominant
share of the economy. This would be accomplished without ever
having to resort to such expedients as nationalisation, which if carried
out with full compensation would only change the ownership of the
means of production ….. and if carried out without such
compensation, would inevitably incur such a large measure of hostility
as to make our development plans very much more difficult to achieve
(quoted from Larbi, 1995, 42).

To meet the land requirements of state contrived industrialisation drive the

administration devised several instruments for controlling land ownership,

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land transactions, land use and development. Even though it can be said that
the immediate post independence government adopted socialist paradigm of
economic development it never directly interfered with land ownership and
private property development in the country. The regime however, enacted
legislation to control virtually every aspect of land ownership, creation of
tenures and the handling of land revenue. Larbi (1995) catalogues twenty-
two intervention instruments that affect every aspect of land tenure,
ownership, transfer, revenue, development, etc. The collective effect of
these measures was to render land ownership by stools empty and devoid of
any economic value to the owners as all the major incidents of ownership
were taken over by the state.

The Ghana Vision 2020 document (the development plan of the National
Democratic Congress (NDC) Government) had very little input on land tenure
and this related to the lack of comprehensive policies on land use which had
resulted in inappropriate uses of land and its effect on long-term economic
potential of natural renewable resources, farming practices, extraction of
timber and destructive logging techniques. It also noted that traditional land
tenure generally inhibited contiguous urban development, limited negotiability
of agricultural land which placed constraints on improved farming practices.
Recommended actions included the establishment of comprehensive urban
land use and settlement planning standards, including environmental issues.
Nothing was provided in relation to tenure and land rights development.

The Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) represents the development

agenda for the current political administration under the New Patriotic Party
(NPP). The aim of the Government is to create wealth by transforming the
nature of the economy to achieve growth, accelerated poverty reduction and
the protection of the vulnerable and excluded within a decentralised,
democratic environment (GPRS, 2002). The document further states that the
goal will be achieved by:
1. Ensuring sound economic management for accelerated growth.
2. Increasing production and promoting sustainable livelihoods.
3. Direct support for human development and the provision of basic
services.
4. Providing special programmes in support of the vulnerable and
excluded.
5. Ensuring good governance and increased capacity of the public sector.
6. The active involvement of the private sector as the main engine of
growth and partner in nation building.
Based on the above the government has identified five core areas as
priorities. These are:
a. Infrastructure – principally the construction of roads, improving
the development of ports and improving telecommunication.
b. Modernised agriculture based on rural development. Under this it
is proposed to reform land acquisition to ensure easier access
and more efficient land ownership and titling processes.
c. Enhanced social services particularly with regard to education
and health services.

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 d. Good governance aimed at ensuring the rule of law, respect for
human rights and attainment of social justice and equity.
e. Private sector development aimed at strengthening the private
sector in an active way to ensure that it is capable of acting
effectively as the engine of growth and poverty reduction.

The GPRS notes that reform of the land administration system is urgently
required, as insecurity of tenure is endemic and has bearing upon both
poverty reduction and economic growth. Failure to provide for the protection
of land rights and prevention of abuse of traditional and institutional
procedures places the poor, the illiterate and women at most risk. Insecurity
of tenure ensures that promotion of the agricultural sector from near
subsistence farming and a way of life into a dynamic entrepreneurial activity
is inhibited if not prevented altogether. The document recognises the need to
protect the rights of the poor, vulnerable and excluded whilst at the same
time ensuring that land becomes a tradable asset. Land tenure reform must
recognise a potential conflict in this and devise a mechanism for close
monitoring to detect adverse effects on the poor for which safety nets may
be required. The GPRS proposes the provisions of protection of land rights
and prevention of abuse of traditional and institutional procedures.

An analysis of the prioritised areas of government indicates that the land

issue has not been seriously factored into the national development agenda.
Even though there are serious urban land problems, the land issue is
considered explicitly in the national development agenda only in relation to
agriculture and rural development indicating that the land problems are
primarily that of rural land and not urban land problems. However, a high
percentage of frustrations of the private sector in land acquisition and land
development have to do with urban and peri-urban areas. Serious
dislocations and landlessness are occurring in many peri-urban areas of the
country creating tensions and conditions not conducive for private sector
development. Urban and peri-urban land issues are fundamental to an
effective private sector development as well as sustainable resource
management.

2.O LAND TENURE IN GHANA

2.1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Land tenure denotes the system of landholding, which has evolved from the
peculiar political and economic circumstances, cultural norms and religious
practices of a people regarding land as a natural resource, its use and
development. Implicit in this definition are the rules, regulations and
institutional structures both customary and enacted legislations, which
influence the holding and appropriation of land and its resources for socio-
economic development.

Ghana as a country has a peculiar land tenure system. It is a complex one

which reflects the unique traditional political organizations, socio-cultural
differences and attributes of the various tribes, clans and families who

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through wars, conquests and assimilation of the conquered and early
settlement came to acquire ownership of land. Differences in natural
endowment between the southern and northern parts of the country, the
advent of colonialism and the subsequent introduction of tree crop farming,
the exploitation of timber and mineral resources to feed the factories of the
western world have played no mean a role in influencing the land tenure
system of the country.

Within the Ghanaian traditional context, the conception of land transcends

the material realm. Land is considered as a spiritual entity, which determines
the nature of ownership. According to Eye-Smith (1940) religious
attachment to land forms the basis of land tenure and the ownership of the
sea, lagoons, creeks, salt deposits etc. among the Adas, the Volta-side Ewes
and other tribes of the Gold Coast (see also Kyerematen, 1971).

With highly centralized states, where unique traditional political structures

were in place, land and for that matter its ownership provided a strong
unifying force for the organization and the existence of the people as a
distinct group. Tribes, which were conquered, were annexed and assimilated
into the existing social and cultural structures. Land in these areas, was
considered as belonging to the entire community. In such centralised states
(for example Ashanti, Akyem, Dagbon) the tenure system is based on
chiefdom and allegiance to it. The chief with recognized elders who exercise
jurisdictional authority also exercise proprietary authority on behalf on the
entire community members or subjects. Land thus provided a strong force
for political and social cohesion.

Due to geographical differences, the rainforest belt of the country witnessed

gradual migration of farmers from less endowed areas to the cocoa growing
areas especially Eastern, Ashanti, and Western Regions. The growth in the
cocoa, mining and timber industries brought in its wake a new economy
which affected land tenure. Migrant farmers started acquiring lands on
share-cropping tenurial basis for farming. Others acquired large tracts of land
through outright purchase (alienation holding), usually organised through
group purchase. In the case of the mining and the timber industries, large
acres of land were alienated on concession with the payment of annual rent
and royalty.

2.2 INTERESTS IN LAND

In Ghana, there are different types of land tenure systems and land holdings,
acquisition, use and disposal of land, which vary from region to region, and
between ethnic communities. These interests held in land are either derived
from Ghanaian customs and traditions or assimilated from English Common
Law and Equity. Land administration in Ghana is thus governed by both
customary practices and enacted legislation.

There are five recognised types of interests in land in Ghana. These are:

(i) The Allodial Interest

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 (ii) Customary Freehold
(iii) Common Law Freehold
(iv) Leasehold including subleases
(v) Customary Tenancies

2.2.1 Allodial Interest

It is the highest proprietary interest known to customary law, beyond
which there is no superior title. It is sometimes referred to as the
paramount or absolute title and has been likened to the freehold
interest, as the concept is understood in English common law (CDD,
2002). Other lesser titles to or interest in or right over land are derived
from the allodial interest.

Depending on the applicable customary law, the allodial interest in land

is held originally by stools, skins, tendama, sub-stools, clans or families
(CDD, 2002). It is a title that in some traditional areas in Ghana is
acknowledged as being held in stools or skins only. In other traditional
areas, sub-stools, sub-skins, clans as well as families hold it. The
allodial title is vested in the head of the land owning group who
manages it on behalf of the community with the consent and
concurrence of the principal members of the community. Historically
allodial title has been created or assumed through discovery or conquest
and subsequent settlement thereon and use thereof by the stool/skin
and family. This interest or title can be transferred from one owner to
the other through:
- Purchase by another community or an individual.
- Gift to another community or an individual.

2.2.2 Customary freehold

Also called the usufruct, it is an interest in land to which members or
indigenes of the landowning community that holds the allodial interest in land
are entitled as of right, according to the customary law of that community. It
is an interest held as of right by members of such a community who acquire
it by first cultivation or by allotment from the land owning group of which
they are members. This interest, so long as it is held and exercised by an
indigene, assumes indefinite duration and prevails against the whole world
including the allodial titleholder. Any group, sub-group or individual member
of a community owning the allodial title may acquire the customary freehold
title or interest in land by exercising his or her inherent right to develop such
vacant virgin communal land. The customary freehold includes the right to
occupy and derive economic use from any portion of the communally owned
land that has not been occupied previously by any member of the
community. Thus the usufruct can cultivate, build or enjoy the use of the
land in any manner he chooses, provided he does not invade the stool’s and
state’s right to the minerals therein. Such rights are limited to the area
occupied. Mere hunting by an indigene, however, does not appropriate
customary freehold title. It is rather a derived right. Other derived rights
include rights to water, rights to non-timber forest products and minerals.

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These derived rights, also referred to as group rights, are distinct from
customary freehold.

The customary freehold is freely transferable and the freeholder may dispose
of his interest both inter vivos or by testamentary disposition to members of
the community as he pleases. Transfers to persons outside the group, i.e.
strangers may be done only by the holder of the customary freehold with the
consent of the appropriate head and principal elders of the land owning
community (CDD, 2002). This is due to the fact that such alienation to a
stranger implies admitting an outsider to the ancestral heritage of the state,
and extending birthright of citizenship.

A customary freehold is an interest held in perpetuity by the beneficial user;

the only caveats being that the land must not be abandoned and the
members’ lineage must not become extinct. The allodial owner of the land
has a reversionary interest in such land in the rare event of abandonment or
the extinction of the beneficial user’s lineage.

2.2.3 Common law freehold

It is an interest in land that arises out of a grant in the nature of a freehold
made by the holder of the allodial title by way of sale or gift. This is an
interest in land, which is held for an indefinite period and is derived from the
rules of common law. It is created only by express grant.

Previously, members of the stool or family or skin, which holds the allodial
title, strangers (i.e. Ghanaian citizens outside the allodial title holding
community) and foreigners alike could acquire common law freehold.
However, in 1969 non-Ghanaians’ rights to hold such interests were
abolished and automatically slashed to a maximum 50-year lease term to be
granted at any one time (1969 Constitution). The 1979 Constitution also
abolished the grant of freehold rights in stool and skin lands to Ghanaians
whether they are strangers or members of the land owning group. This
presupposes that from 1979 such rights emanating from stool and skin lands
can no longer be granted in the country. Common law freeholds can,
however, emanate from family lands.

2.2.4 Leaseholds
These are rights granted to a person to occupy and use land for a specified
term subject to certain agreed covenants and the payment of an agreed rent.
The holder of the allodial title, customary freehold or common law freehold
may grant a lease in respect of land over which he/she has not already
granted. Sub- leases may be further granted by leaseholders.

2.2.5 Lesser Interests

Customary Tenancies - Holders of an allodial title, customary freehold or
common law freehold may also create various lesser interests under
customary law. These are usually share-cropping contractual arrangement by
which a tenant farmer gives a specified portion of the produce of the farm to
the landlord at each harvest time. The two best known of such tenancies are

10
the ‘abunu’ (the produce is shared 50:50) and ‘abusa’ (one-third to the land
owner and two-thirds to the farmer). There are other forms of customary
tenancies in which the consideration for the grant is not the sharing of farm
produce but monetary payments, for example, periodic rents. In addition to
these interests certain rights recognized by law also exist in land in Ghana.
Examples are easements, profits a prendre, restrictive covenants, reversions
and common law licenses. All these terminologies, though importations from
English common law, describe lesser interests in customary law for which
local phraseology have been lost in usage over the years.

2.2.6 The State’s Right of Eminent Domain

The state through its power of eminent domain can acquire any land in the
country over which any of the interests described above is held. Interests
assumed through statutory acquisitions could best be described as common
law freehold in case of complete takeover (compulsory acquisition) or
leasehold for a definite term.

2.3 CATEGORIES OF LANDS IN GHANA AND THEIR MANAGEMENT

Arising from the various interests described above and using ownership and
control and management as basis, land in Ghana may be classified broadly
into public and customary lands.

2.3.1 Public land

Public land can be grouped into two, state land and vested land.

(a) State Land - refers to land that the Government has compulsorily acquired
for a specified public purpose or in the general public interest by the lawful
exercise of its constitutional or statutory power of eminent domain. Such
lands are vested in the President and held in trust by the State for the people
of Ghana. All previous interests are extinguished and persons who previously
held recognizable interests in such lands are entitled by law to compensation
either monetary or replacement with land of equivalent value. The 1992
Constitution makes provision for the payment of prompt, fair and adequate
compensation where the government exercises its powers of eminent
domain. Laws governing the compulsory acquisition of land by the
government include Article 20 of the 1992 Constitution, Administration of
Lands Act 1962, Act 123, the State Lands Act 1962, Act 125, the Land
Statutory Wayleaves Act 1963, Act 186 and regulations made under these
statutes.

The Lands Commission administers state lands on behalf of the

President.

(b) Vested Lands - is a unique situation brought about by statutory

intervention where the landowner retains the customary land ownership but
the management of the land is taken over by the State in trust for the
owners. The management responsibilities cover legal, e.g. prosecution,
financial, e.g. rent assessment, collection, disbursement and estate
management eg physical planning and its enforcement and administration of

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the property. Legislations governing vested lands are the Administration of
Lands Act, 1962 (Act 123). Similar to state lands, vested lands are
administered by the Lands Commission, as a government agency, on behalf
of the customary owner.

2.3.2 Customary Land

Within this category are stool, skin, clan and family lands. These, which
constitute about 80% (including vested lands) of land holding in the country,
have a common trait of communal ownership and are guided by the
following customary tenets:
! Ownership is inter-generational
! Land is held in trust by the head of the community for the entire
members of the community, clan or family in the belief that land
is owned by the dead, living and those yet unborn.
! Allodial title to the land resides in the community, clan or family
and it is non transferable.

Stool land as defined by Article 295(1) of the 1992 Constitution ‘

includes any land or interest in or right over any land controlled by a
stool, skin, the head of a particular community or the captain of a
company, for the benefit of the subjects of that Stool or the members
of that particular community or company’. The constitution stipulates
that such land ‘shall vest in the appropriate stool on behalf of and in
trust for the subjects of the stool in accordance with customary law and
usage’.

Stool lands are predominant in areas of the country which have a strong
centralized political system as exists in most parts of the Akan areas in
the southern and some areas in the northern parts of the country. In
these areas traditional authority is inexplicably linked to landownership
and the stool holds the allodial title in land. The stool, which is regarded
as an immortal entity, represents the spiritual and physical embodiment
of the people. The occupant of the stool holds land on behalf of and in
trust for the entire subjects of the stool. The constitution regards such
occupants as ‘fiduciaries charged with the obligation to discharge their
functions for the benefit respectively of the people of Ghana, of the
stool, skin or family concerned and are accountable in this regard’
(Article 36(8) of 1992 Constitution).

(a) Stool and Skin Lands

Stool and Skin lands are subject to extensive regulation, pursuant to Article
267 of the 1992 Constitution, the Administration of Lands Act, 1962 Act
123 and the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands Act, 1994 Act 481.
! Any grant to a non-member of the land owning stool/skin requires the
concurrence of the Lands Commission
! All revenue in respect of stool/skin lands whether in the nature of
capital or periodic payments including rents, royalties, etc must be
paid to the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands

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 ! No freeholds can be granted of such lands, including customary
freeholds.

(b) Family Lands

Scattered all over Ghana are a number of traditional groups, which do not
recognize a stool, or a skin as a symbol of communal land ownership. In
these areas the allodial ownership vests in the clan or family. This system of
tenure is predominant in the Volta Region and some traditional areas on the
Central, Eastern, and Greater -Accra, Northern, Upper East and Upper West
Regions of Ghana.

The head of the clan /family is in no less a fiduciary position as stipulated in

the 1992 Constitution. Family lands, implicitly inferred by the 1992
Constitution as private property, are devoid of extensive government
regulatory mechanisms compared to stool or skin lands. Family lands
together with individual lands are about 35% of the total lands in customary
ownership.

(c) Individual Lands

Individual lands constitute grants emanating from common law freeholds.

The problems associated with these tenures are discussed later.

2.4 LAND TENURE AND GENDER

Land legislation and policies in Ghana appear to be gender neutral. However,
they tend to affect women adversely in their implementation because of
women’s peculiar socio-economic position and the cultural context in which
they are applied (Dowuona-Hammond, 2001). Even though recent policies
and drive towards women empowerment have been canvassed by
successive governments, traditional norms appear to be one of the
entrenched obstacles to access and control over land resources. To a large
extent, access and control to productive resources are determined by male-
centred kinship institutions that have evolved out of patriarchal ideologies.
Thus whether women are located in patrilineal or matrilineal cultures it is the
men in their families who more or less preside over the allocation of
resources owned by the family (Aryeetey, 2002). This general observation
however, varies from one traditional community to the other and is
embedded deeply in the customs and norms of the communities. There is
also a wide variation in women access and control over land resources in
urban and rural areas. In urban areas where access to land is determined
more by market forces traditional norms and customs break down and there
are virtually no restrictions on women access to land. No law exist to
prevent women from purchasing or renting land if they have the money to do
so.

In rural areas however, financial empowerment is the primary limitation that

hinders women from breaking away from the traditional stranglehold. Thus
even though except for some limited traditional areas gender systems
generally guarantee rights of access to resources, but it is giving control and

13
ownership of those resources which create problems and perpetuate gender
inequality (Aryeetey, 2002). To obtain land for agricultural purposes women,
like men, have traditionally depended on their families to allocate plots to
them. Aryeetey (2002) however reports that there are indications that the
quality of land allocated to women is often worse than that of men,
underscoring women’s weaker bargaining position vis-à-vis men in land
allocation. Women generally have to look to their husbands or to their own
families for farmland, although matrilineal lineages are able to inherit land
from a wider range of relation. However, security of women’s land use rights
is not necessarily assured. One traditional channel for women to own land is
by gift – from families, or spouses and all such transfers have to be formally
witnessed to be sealed. Women have rights of disposal over such lands.

2.5 RIGHTS TO COMMON RESOURCES

Customary land ownership recognises rights of the members of the land
owning community to the community’s common resources. These include
water, durbar/funeral grounds, grazing grounds, non-timber forest products
(NTFP) etc. Usage and control is based on customary rules which in the past
provided sound basis for the sustainable management of such resources.
However, growing population of both people and animals, diminishing supply
of land, inter and intra regional migration and urbanisation have contributed
to dwindling reserves of such resources and are posing tremendous
challenges to the management of the common resource. The continued
supply of the common resources on a sustained basis is under constant
threat due to the absence of any statutory framework for their management.

3.0 LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORKS FOR LAND

ADMINISTRATION

3.1 LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The legal framework for land administration has developed from colonial times
over the years in piecemeal and in an ad hoc manner, in response to specific
issues or political dictates. Currently there are over 86 legal instruments on the
statute books some overlapping and others conflicting. These laws operate
along side customary laws in the country, creating a plural legal environment
for land administration. The 1992 Constitution reinforces the legal-pluralism
framework. Article 267 (1) says that all stool lands shall vest in the appropriate
stool on behalf of and in trust for the subjects of the stool in accordance with
customary law and usage. This implies that the indigenous owners take all
management decisions and exercise the powers that go with ownership – the
right to own, sell, receive payment, manage, decide on who is allocated a plot,
terms, conditions and price for a particular grant, etc. Yet Article 267 (2) sets
up the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands (OASL) and charges the
office with the collection and disbursements of all stool land revenues, defined
to include all rents, dues, royalties, revenues or other payments whether in the
nature of income or capital from stool lands. The implication is that even
though indigenous owners have the capacity to manage their lands and enter
into contracts they do not have the capacity to collect the moneys they
negotiate for. This drives all the payments made to the indigenous owners into

14
the extra-legal framework because they become illegal when paid to the
landowners. The Constitution (Article 267(6)) even prescribes the formula for
the disbursement of the moneys so collected. Based on the formula only 22.5
percent of the price money is to be paid to the landowners whilst as much as
59.5 percent is retained by the state. The remaining 18 percent is paid to the
traditional council (which is only an association of heads of traditional groups)
where the land is situated.

Article 267(3) also provides that there shall be no disposition or development

of any stool land unless the Regional Lands Commission of the region in which
the land is situated has certified that the disposition or development is
consistent with the development plan drawn up or approved by the planning
authority for the area concerned. This implies that where the Lands
Commission is unable to give the requisite certification then any disposition by
the indigenous owners is invalid, pushing all such grants into illegality with its
consequent development.

Again Article 267(5) prohibits the grant of freeholds in any stool lands however
so described. It is not too clear what the full implications of this clause is,
especially the extent to which it affects land rights of subjects of the
landowning communities and other customary freeholders. But if the meaning
of the clause is to be taken at face value then all customary freeholders of
stool lands and ‘strangers’ (absolute purchasers or renters) are being turned
into tenants of the chiefs as landlords.

The framework in general provides for intervention in the following areas,

among others.
1. Control over creation of proprietary rights in land without taking land.
This included management of stool lands by the state, validation of
stool land transactions and subsequently prohibition of freehold grants
of stool lands.
2. Control over creation of proprietary rights by taking land, through
compulsory acquisition, occupation and use of land on the orders of
the President, vesting of the management rights of the land in
government in trust.
3. Control over revenue accruing from land ownership without taking
land. The state collects and disburses revenue accruing from stool
lands including agricultural rents on behalf of the landowners, as the
government thinks fit without any input from the owners.
The problems posed by the existing legal framework are discussed later.

3.2 INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK

The institutional arrangements for land tenure in Ghana can be broadly
classified as public and private.

3.2.1 Public Institutions

By public is meant the Government land agencies which collaborate to
manage all state acquired and vested lands and enforces regulations
regarding the administration of customary lands. The institutional

15
arrangements for land administration are shared among six (6) public
agencies under the Ministries of Land and Forestry, and Environment and
Science. The mandates and functions of these agencies are attached as
Appendix I.

3.2.2 Private Institutions

The private institutions comprise the customary landowners (Chiefs and
Family Heads) and individuals who may possess land, with sizes ranging from
0.1 or less to several hectares, and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).

In the case of the management of customary lands, the authorised

‘representatives’ of the people, are either the chiefs or the family/clan heads.
There are areas in some parts of the country where ‘traditional priests’
(Tendama and to a lesser extent the wulomei) are the ‘authorised
representatives’ of the people. They have the right to manage the land on
behalf of their people, with the consent and concurrence of the principal
members of the land owning community (council of elders).

The Council often arrives at a decision through consensus building and in

some instances, the Chief/Head may give specific instructions to be
implemented by the council. The councils have procedures through which
allocation of land is made, in order to forestall any disputes or multiple salsas
well as for the management of common resources. A few customary
landowners have well established land secretariats that mediates the process
of land allocation, documentation and record keeping. Capacity is however,
low and the secretariats are without any real estate professionals engaged in
the process. A major drawback of this system is that the council of elders
comprise mainly of male members with little representation of women and
the youth. This has at times ignited protests from the youth calling for
accountability from the council for the proceeds from the land. A re-
organisation of these institutions into systems that are participatory and
accountable to community membership should be encouraged.

3.3 NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS (NGOs) IN LAND

ADMINISTRATION
The presence of NGOs in the land sector was virtually nil, until a few years
ago when a couple of organisations showed interest in this sector. Two
such organisations are ‘Land for Life’ and ‘Care International’. Compared to
the activities of NGOs in other sectors of the economy this situation is not
too surprising due to the perception that land tenure issues are too complex
and too difficult to handle and activities do not achieve readily visible results.
The current operations of the two NGOs are discussed below.

3.3.1 Care International

A major concern of land users, especially, migrant farmers is the absence of
security of tenure to their farm lands. This denies farmers access to the full
benefits of the resources on their land and compels them to engage in
activities that are detrimental to sustainable natural resource management
and reduces the flow of resources available to all. It further prevents farmers

16
from investing in sustainable land use management practices. The
combination of land tenure issues with other competing interests for natural
resources which are not well coordinated means the natural resource base
which forms the backbone of the country’s economy as well as the main
source of livelihood for a large number of people is at great risk.

Government policies in the past have excluded farmers from benefit sharing
schemes from valuable forest resources. Forest resources nurtured to
maturity by the farmers are harvested by companies without any direct
benefit to the farmers. Uncultivated land is taken away by the landowners
and resold. The only security for migrant farmers is therefore to clear the
uncultivated land for farming (cultivated land is not taken back for
reallocation by the landowner). Farmers would be enthusiastic about
maintaining the forest as well as nurturing and planting timber trees on their
farms if they are assured of security of ownership or access to the benefits.

The economic value of timber and forest products far outweighs that of
cultivated agriculture. In the long term the potential exists for realising this
value through community rights to the benefits and management of the
resource leading to incentives for sustainable management. With a
comprehensive understanding of the various perspectives and how these
relate to natural resources, based on sound research, and combined with the
backing of appropriate policy and technical solutions, there exists the
possibility to reconcile the various stakeholder interests and promote a
situation for sustainable natural resource management. In this regard, farmers
would be interested in controlling access to the resources on their farms.
Farmers would gain increased economic opportunities through benefits from
community based natural resource management, small scale community
based forest enterprise (timber & NTFPs) involving domestic and commercial
use of logging residues and non-timber species.

CARE International has been facilitating key stakeholders in forest resources

to analyse their interests, rights, responsibilities and commitments needed to
increase the flow of benefits from sustainable forest resource management
and equity in benefit sharing. This is to enable an understanding among
different stakeholders of the real benefits possible from forest resources and
raise motivation for them to strengthen relationships, organise together and
negotiate for improved access to benefits. This involve addressing security of
land and tree tenure and agreeing on land use management guidelines for
forest and farm areas, community agreements on the use and management
of specific resources with clear rules, regulations and procedures.

In this direction, CARE has been piloting community-based land

administration systems with the objective of facilitating land owners and land
users to arrive at transparent local agreements which are beneficial to both
parties and provide security of tenure to land users and creates incentives for
them to invest in sustainable land use practices. Through partnerships with
CBOs and local NGOs, communities and land users are being made aware of
government policies on land and natural resource use and management. Their

17
capacities are being built to analyse the policies and provide feedback on the
implications of the policies and advice on areas needing review. A major
objective of CARE in this regard is to contribute to the development of an
effective network of Ghanaian Civil Society institutions to represent,
coordinate and advocate for the land and natural resources concerns and
rights of poor rural families at local, regional and national level.

3.3.2 Land For Life

Land for Life is committed to the eradicating of the causes of insecurity in
land acquisition and tenure to facilitate accelerated national development. Its
main objectives are
! To pursue programmes and activities that would ensure secure title
and a smooth transfer of title to land for accelerated sustainable
national development.
! To educate and provide advisory services to provide individuals and
institutions on procedures for obtaining secure title to land.
! To facilitate the creation of a forum at the local level for the adoption
of consultative and consensus building processes and structures for
resolving inter/intra stool clan/family and individual disputes relating to
land acquisition and boundary conflicts.
! To help build the capacity of the trustees/custodians of stool/family
lands to make them accountable to the beneficiaries through
education, training and other initiatives in sustainable land resource
management.
! To promote networking and sharing of experience among land related
organisations locally, elsewhere on the African continent, particularly
West African sub-region and internationally with a view to benefiting
from best country practices in land administration, adjudication and
management.
The NGO is currently engaged in assisting landowners at Oyibi (a peri-urban
settlement close to Accra) to demarcate its boundaries, establishing a land
secretariat to assist in the management of the community’s land and to keep
accurate records of its land grants.

3.4 DECENTRALISATION, LAND TENURE AND LAND ADMINISTRATION

Decentralisation of political administration is one of the cardinal institutional
development at the moment in Ghana. Administratively the country is divided
into ten regions which have been further sub-divided into 110 districts,
municipal and metropolitan assemblies as the local authorities. They are
charged with responsibility for the overall development of their districts, and
for the improvement and management of human settlements and the
environment (Kasanga, 2002). The functions of the assemblies include
ensuring the preparation and submission of development plans and budgets,
the formulation of programmes and strategies, support for productive activity
and social development in the districts, the removal of any obstacles to
initiative and development, the provision of municipal works and services.
Decentralisation is governed by the Local Government Act, 1993 (Act 462).
The Act empowers the Assemblies to acquire land for site and services

18
development, investment and development purposes, even though the
provision is rarely used.

Whilst the assemblies handle many development issues at the local level,
land administration and tenure issues are still handled by central government
agencies, with the exception of land use planning, development control and
forest resource management. There is little coordination between the
assemblies and the central government agencies on land administration, apart
from the preparation of valuation list for property rating by the Land
Valuation Board. The assemblies lack capacity in land administration matters.
These create problems at the local level as all land transactions have to be
submitted to regional offices before they can be processed.

3.5 ENFORCEMENT
Enforcement refers to the structures and institutions put in place for
enforcing regulations relating to tenure administration as well as for seeking
redress for breaches of contract and other issues of dispute and the costs
associated with them. Apart from established institutions for dispute
resolution such as the courts, structures for enforcement are interlinked with
the institutional structures for land administration. The customary institutions
normally form the first focal point for enforcement of terms and conditions
associated with grants of land from that sector and for resolving conflicts
and disputes.

The courts are the main public institutions for resolving disputes but the
process is characterised by long delays. It is estimated that there are more
than 60,000 land cases pending in the courts throughout the country at
various levels of the court system.

Recent efforts at reducing the number of land cases that end up in court and
the long delays has been the development of alternative dispute resolution
mechanisms at all institutional levels involved in land administration.
Capacity however remains low.

4.0 CRITICAL EMERGING TENURE ISSUES

Emanating from the discussion so far can be assembled the following as the
main critical emerging land tenure issues.

4.1 Plural legal environment

A plural legal environment for land administration which creates conflicts
sometimes between customary principles and practices and statutes.

4.2 General indiscipline in the land market

This is characterised by a high spate of land encroachments, multiple sale of
residential parcels, unapproved development schemes, haphazard
development, leading to environmental problems, disputes, conflicts and
endless litigation.

19
4.3 Absence of a national database on land ownership
There is no national database on land ownership. This coupled with
undetermined boundaries of customary lands and a lack of reliable maps and
plans, result in the use of unapproved, old or inaccurate maps, leading to
land conflicts and litigation among stools, skins and other land owning
groups. There is no doubt at all that the custodians of customary lands know
in general where their boundaries lie but since these boundaries have not
been demarcated on the ground so much confusion arise when demand for
land increases near the boundaries. There are so many land disputes in the
country but when each is studied critically it will be realised that it eventually
goes down to the boundaries between the major land owning groups –
between Dagbon and Gonja, between Akyem and Ashanti, between
Asokore and Effiduase, etc.

The absence of national database is also reflected in a lack of documentation

on various rights and interests in land - a basic shortcoming of customary
tenure. The history of the original acquisition of land has not been
documented. They are passed on by oral tradition. Transmission of
information is highly dependent on the human factor. Due to the fact that
memory fades and people die vital information is lost when it is not
transmitted timeously. The biggest problem lies in the fact that in the
transmission of the information, there could be subjectivity in its reportage.

4.4 Chieftaincy disputes

Chieftaincy disputes affect customary ownership and disposition of stool and
skin lands. A registrar at one of the Traditional Councils once indicated that
about 70 percent of chieftaincy disputes has land issues – disposition of the
land and accountability for the proceeds from the land – as one of the core
reasons for preferring destoolment charges. This creates uncertainty
regarding the right person to deal with for land. Sometimes some of the
decisions on chieftaincy disputes also create problems for land
administration. Where for example, after a chief has reigned for some time,
his nomination, election and enstoolment is declared null and void ab initio
without any consequential provisions on the acts the chief might have
performed, including land dispositions whilst he was a chief. This leaves
grantees of the destooled chief without any security of tenure and usually
they have to re-negotiate for the land afresh. Sometimes where the land is
not developed it is re-granted to another person without taking into
cognisance the acts of the destooled chief.

4.5 Fragmentation
Large group of customary land holders which were formerly one entity have
been fragmented into several land holding groups which have no one central
control. Stool lands are being fragmented and described as family lands.
This results from the fact that the state has regulations for stools lands but
has not put in place similar regulations for family lands.

20
4.6 Distribution of Stool/Skin Land Revenue
There is inequitable distribution of stool/skin land revenue in favour of the
state rather than the landowners as provided in Article 267(6) of the 1992
Constitution, creating a lot of poverty among the landowners. Under this
provision the stool/skin landowners are entitled to only 22.5% of the total
revenue. The state takes 59.5% and the traditional council 18%.

4.7 Compulsory Land Acquisition

Compulsory acquisition by the State of large tracts of land which have not
been fully utilised and for which payment of compensation has not been
made for a considerable length of time, sometimes decades. The reasons
may be attributed to a basic flaw in the acquisition process that does not
make the payment of compensation a condition for the acquisition and lack
of funds to effect payment.

4.8 Insecurity of Tenure

A large number of oral agricultural tenancies not supported by any proper
documentation, creating inadequate security of land tenure for migrant
farmers, and leading to disputes between the farmers and the land owners
regarding the exact terms of a particular grant.

Tenant farmers in particular are bedevilled with the plight of insecurity of title
to lands customarily acquired from land owners/chiefs. Some are:
! High incidence of litigation on the demise of either parties due to
unwritten nature of tenancy agreement and absence of boundary
demarcations.
! Most successors of landowners try to impose new terms and
conditions on the tenant farmer.
! Alienation holders with documents (freeholds) are sometimes
challenged and invited by successors for renegotiation.
! Landowners dispute the capacity of a successor to a demised tenant
farmer.
! Conflicts arise when a tenant farmer allocates uncultivated land to
others for commercial purposes etc.
! Tenant/settler farmers face threats of ejection, conflict and untimely
abrogation of tenancy agreements.

4.9 Accessibility to Land

Difficult accessibility to land for agricultural, industrial, commercial and
residential development purposes due to conflicting claims to ownership and
insecurity of access to common resources such as grazing land and NTFPs.

4.10 Weak Land Administration System

A weak land administration system characterised by lack of comprehensive
land policy framework, fragmented institutions for land administration,
reliance on numerous (quantitatively) but inadequate (qualitatively) and out-
dated legislation, lack of adequate functional and coordinated geographic
information systems and networks, as well as of transparent guidelines, slow
disposal of land cases by the courts, poor capacity and capability to initiate

21
and coordinate policy actions, let alone resolve contradictory policies and
policy actions among various land delivery agencies.

There is lack of consultation, coordination and cooperation among land

development agencies, resulting sometimes in overlapping and duplication of
functions and efforts.

4.11 Lack of consultation with customary landowners

There is lack of consultation with customary landowners in decision-making
for land allocation, acquisition, management, utilisation and development,
which has generated disputes between the state and the private land owning
groups and within communities. The experience in the past has been the use
of state structures to dominate the administration of land ownership, land
rights, tenures and land development to the detriment of customary owners
and adequate support and protection of customary practices.

4.12 Management of common land resources

Management of common land resources is done at the community level.
Apart from community norms and rules there are no national rules regulating
access to and use of the common resources. This at times creates problems
between herders and crop farmers, particularly from transhumance
pastoralists who come from outside the country.

5.0 GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES

Until 1999 land had been managed through various legal instruments,
customary practices, judicial pronouncements and cabinet decisions. There
are more than 86 legal instruments affecting access to land and land
management, forestry and wildlife, water management, pollution control,
human settlements and land administration institutions. In addition there are
about 80 subsidiary legislations. This approach to land management did not
provide an overall direction for policy development and therefore did not
provide a basis for monitoring, evaluation and change where necessary. Land
management was done on ad hoc basis as decisions and some of the
statutes were enacted to deal with specific land-related problems at a
particular time.

5.1 THE NATIONAL LAND POLICY

A National Land Policy to provide direction for land management in the
country and to address some of the problems discussed above was launched
in June 1999.

5.1.1 The Policy Formulation Process - A Participatory Approach

The policy formulation process started with the receipt by government in
March 1994 of the Final Report of the Law Reform Commission, which
started work on Proposals for the Reform of Land Law in 1973. The report
was referred to the Ministry of Lands and Forestry (MLF) to study and advice
on how the reforms proposed in the report could be advanced.

22
The Ministry then commissioned various experts and committees to study
the Report (of the Law Reform Commission) and other relevant existing
research data. A Land Policy Committee was set up to review the various
enactment, documentation and customary practices relating to land
administration and to come out with policy options for consideration by the
Ministry. Members of the Committee were drawn from various institutions
including the National House of Chiefs, the Ministry of Environment Science
and Technology, the Universities, the National Development Planning
Commission, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Ministry of
Agriculture, the Ministry of Lands and Forestry, the Lands Commission, Land
Valuation Board, the Land Title Registry and the Survey Department.

A working draft interim policy document was submitted to the ministry in

September 1995. It was circulated extensively among various stakeholders
and individuals with specialised knowledge in land administration for their
study and comments.

A consultant was subsequently commissioned to collate the views and

comments and to travel throughout the country to test various concepts
against accepted traditional and cultural practices.

An inter-ministerial committee was then set up to review the consultant’s

report. A revised draft policy document was then prepared which was
discussed at a national land policy workshop in April 1997. Participants were
drawn from all identifiable stakeholders in land ownership, land use, land
management and environmental management. Over 120 participants
attended. A multidisciplinary approach was adopted to review the draft
policy document. The workshop resulted in further revisions to the policy
document. The final draft policy document was presented to Cabinet in
December 1997 for consideration and approval.

Cabinet then organised a day’s seminar in May 1998 to deliberate on the

policy provisions. At this seminar experts on land tenure and land use were
invited to provide inputs and comments on the draft policy document. The
consensus at the seminar was that the document was a workable one but
needed further revision. The revisions were made and the proposals received
final government approval in January 1999 and the policy document was
launched in June 1999.

5.1.2 Aim of the Land Policy

According to the policy document, the aim of the land policy is to seek the
judicious use of the nation’s land and all its natural resources by all sections
of the Ghanaian society in support of various socio-economic activities
undertaken in accordance with sustainable resource management principles,
and in maintaining viable ecosystems. The Land Policy seeks to provide the
necessary framework for addressing the above problems and constraints ‘to
ensure equity in the allocation and holding to maintain a stable environment
for the country’s sustainable social and economic development’. The long-
term goal of the government’s land policy is to stimulate economic

23
development, reduce poverty, promote social stability by improving security
of tenure, and simplifying the process of accessing land which would make it
fair, transparent and efficient and to develop an efficient land market.

5.1.3 Objectives of the Policy

The Land Policy document lists the following as the policy objectives.
1. Ensuring that Ghana’s international boundaries are maintained at all
times and cross border activities are managed jointly.
2. Ensuring that shared water bodies are utilised to the mutual benefit of
all stakeholder countries.
3. Ensuring that every socio-economic activity is consistent with sound
land use through sustainable land use planning in the long-term
national interest.
4. Facilitating equitable access to and security of tenure of land based on
registered titles.
5. Protecting the rights of landowners and their descendants from
becoming landless or tenants on their own lands.
6. Ensuring the payment, within reasonable time, of fair and adequate
compensation for land acquired by government from stool, skin or
traditional council, clan, family and individuals.
7. Instilling order and discipline into the land market to curb the incidence
of land encroachment, unapproved development schemes, multiple or
illegal land sales, land speculation and other forms of land
racketeering.
8. Minimising and eliminating where possible, the sources of protracted
land boundary disputes, conflicts and litigations in order to bring their
associated economic costs and socio-political upheavals under control.
9. Creating and maintaining effective institutional capacity and capability
at the national, regional district and where appropriate, community
levels for land service delivery.
10. Promoting community participation and public awareness at all levels in
sustainable land management and development practices to ensure the
highest and best use of land, and thereby guaranteeing optimum
returns to land.
11. Promoting research into all aspects of land ownership, tenure and the
operations of the land market and the land development process.
12. Ensuring continuous education of the general public on land matters.

The policy document identifies the key issues discussed in section 4 of

this paper and proposes various actions for dealing with them.

5.2 THE LAND ADMINISTRATION PROGRAM

A Land Administration Program has been developed as the Government of
Ghana’s initiative to implement the policy actions recommended in the
National Land Policy to improve upon land administration in the country to
support socio-economic development, and to deal generally with the issues
discussed above.

24
The Program is a long-term commitment by the Government of Ghana to
reduce poverty and enhance economic/social growth by improving security of
tenure, simplifying the process of acquiring land by the populace, developing
the land market and fostering prudent land management by establishing an
efficient system of land administration, both State and customary, based on
clear, coherent and consistent policies and laws supported by appropriate
institutional structures.
In consideration of the complexity of the issues, it has been estimated that it
will take at least 15 years to complete the implementation of the Program.
Based on international experience and given that Ghana has a very complex
hierarchy of interests in land, it is considered prudent that Program be
implemented in three five-year phases. There are many stakeholders and the
emphasis of the first phase will be a range of actions that seek to confirm
policy detail within the framework of the National Land Policy and pilot
activity that would seek to build consensus and develop efficient, cost-
effective and field proven methodologies that can be used to scale up activity
under subsequent phases of the Program.

5.2.1 Social Assessment Studies

Three separate social assessment studies were conducted as a prelude to the
preparation of the project. These were conducted by the World Bank, DFID
and Hatch Associates, the project consultants in collaboration with key staff
of the Ministry. Key issues that were flagged in these assessments include
inadequate participation and consultation with indigenous experts and land
owners, traditional authorities suspicious of the motives for the programme
(was it to tax them further?), inability to enforce existing laws, lack of
resources for efficient work delivery in the public sector agencies and serious
corruption in the land sector.

5.2.2 Project Objectives & Components

While keeping the overall objectives of the long-term program in perspective,
the first five years aims at developing a sustainable land administration
system that is fair, efficient, decentralized, cost effective and capable of
enhancing land tenure security. The project is thus divided into four
components to achieve the stated objectives as follows:

Component I: Harmonious Policy and Legislative Framework for Sustainable

Land Administration
! Validation inventory of all acquired State land through field survey and
to determine outstanding compensation
! Development of a strategy on land disputes, identifying causes of
disputes and alternative methods to resolve land disputes outside the
courts
! Establishment of Land Courts in regional capitals to expedite resolution
of land cases
! Revisions of laws and regulations for an effective and efficient land
administration, including land use planning and valuation
! Policy studies

25
Component II: Institutional Reform & Development
! Restructuring of public land sector agencies
! Decentralising and strengthening land administration services to the
local level (districts)
! Strengthening customary land secretariats
! Strengthening private sector land institutions and
! Strengthening land administration and management institutions

Component III: Improving Land Titling, Registration, Valuation and

Information
Systems
! Development of cadastre & land information systems
! Cadastral mapping
! Establishment of model land titling and registration offices
! Improvement of deeds and title registration
! Revised land valuation and land fees collection system
! Pilot projects in demarcation and registration of allodial boundaries
! Pilot systematic land titling and registration

Component IV: Project Management, Monitoring & Evaluation

! Project co-ordination & mangement
! Human resources development
! Community outreach and public relations and
! Monitoring , evaluation and impact assessment

5.2.3 Project Funding

The first phase of the program (LAP-I) is estimated to cost US$54.19 million
and is funded by the Government of Ghana and its development partners.
The World Bank is providing US$20.5 million. Other development partners
contributing to the project are the Canadian International Development
Agency (CIDA) – US$1 million, the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) –
US$2.4 million, KfW – US$6 million, the Nordic Development Fund (NDF) –
US$7 million and the Departement for International Development (DFID) –
US$9 million. The first phase of the program (LAP-1) is for five years,
commencing in 2004 and ending in 2008.

The project has a major sub-component dealing with strengthening of the

customary Land Secretariats. Since these institutions are mainly private, the
level of assistance expected to be received by them, has been the subject of
debate. Even if they are purely regarded as such, their activities underpin
land administration and land delivery in Ghana, and they will continue to play
such important role for a long time to come. It is therefore essential to lay
the foundation for clearer and more cohesive development of customary land
administration. It is expected that, the project would work directly with
customary land authorities to help them improve and develop customary land
management. Land holding rules and transparent procedures for allocation of
land would be developed to minimise multiple land allocations. Simple land
use planning methods of the customary lands will also be developed to

26
minimise unauthorised development and provide effective land use control in
the community. Lessons learnt from pilot activities of NGOs will be fed into
the ongoing LAP process and as well as to the NGO network to provide the
basis for informed advocacy on land policy in the country.

It is expected that through the project activities, the customary authorities

would work more closely with the public land sector agencies to develop
procedures that are simple and less expensive for customary landholders and
administrators, leading to a smooth interface with the formal registration
process.

5.2.4 Implementing Arrangements

The program will be implemented by the Ministry of Lands & Forestry as the
lead agency with the collaboration of the Ministries of Justice, Local
Government & Rural Development, Environment & Science, Information and
the Judiciary.

6.0 CONCLUSION
Land issues are now occupying a high profile on the national development
agenda as it is recognised that land has a critical role to play in economic
growth, development and poverty reduction. The issues discussed in the
paper pose serious challenges in dealing with them. Land tenure reforms are
necessarily political as land is the basic asset for wealth creation in the
country. The Land Administration Program provides opportunities for
engineering the necessary reforms. The program enjoys support from highest
political authority, including parliament but since the stakes are high the
approach to adopt is ‘hasten but slow’.

27
ANNEX 1: MANDATE OF PUBLIC LAND SECTOR AGENCIES

OFFICE OF THE LANDS COMMISSION SURVEY LAND TITLE LAND TOWN &
ADMINISTRATOR DEPARTMENT REGISTRY VALUATION COUNTRY
OF STOOL LANDS BOARD PLANNING
DEPARTMENT
To collect stool land The Commission is Mapping agency assigned To register, To provide The Town and
revenue and disburse mandated under Act 483 of the statutory responsibility compile and valuation Country Planning
same to the 1994 to: of planning, supervision maintain all titles services to the Department was
beneficiaries as and execution of all land to land and government of established under
stipulated in Article # Manage all public surveys as well as the interests in land Ghana and the Town and
267 (2) of the 1992 lands and to production of maps, plans (PNDCL 152, Public sector for Country Planning
constitution and the administer all and maps substitutes 1986) statutory and Ordinance, CAP
Office of the records on public required for the socio- non-statutory 84 of 1945 to
Administrator of lands in the country economic development of purposes. promote orderly
Stool Lands Act # Grant concurrence to Ghana. and efficient
1994. Act 481 while all stool lands management of
ensuring proper transactions. all human
accountability # Advice government settlements in
and other land Ghana.
holding entities on
land administration
functions.

28
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ANNEX 2: PREPARATION TEAM
The ‘Ghana – Emerging Land Tenure Issues’ paper was prepared through a
consultative process of major identified stakeholders. The request to prepare
a country paper was received late (June ending) but the group held weekly
meetings throughout the month of July where the issues were thoroughly
debated and agreed upon. This paper is result of the consultative meeting.
Mr Laurent Sedogo of CILSS attended the consultative meeting on 17th July
2003 and contributed immensely to the discussions.

The consultative group was made up of the following:

NAME INSTITUTION

1. Dr W. Odame Larbi Ministry of Lands and Forestry (Coordinator)

2. Michael Amoah Tenant Farmers Association
3. Philip Sokpoe Tenant Farmers Association
4. Charles Sagoe Ghana Institution of Surveyors
5. Albert Katako CARE International (NGO)
6. Stephen Osei-Amakye Environmental Protection Agency
7. Kwese Bentsi-Enchill Land Valuation Board
8. Conrad Asiedu Land Title Registry
9. S.K George Land for Life (NGO)
10. Mabel Yemidi Lands Commission
11. Kwesi Dautey Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands
12. K. Oppong Nkrumah Institute of Land Management &
Development
13. Jonathan A. Abossey Survey Department
14. Kumordzi-Ablo Mark Land for Life (NGO)
15. George Mensah Town and Country Planning Department
16. Nana Ama Aning GTZ

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The Ministry of Lands and Forestry acknowledges the financial support

provided by GTZ to facilitate the meetings of the consultative group and the
preparation of the paper.

32