Legal and Institutional Issues in Land Policy Reform in Ghana

Abstract

Land acquisition, ownership and management of land relations constitute some of the biggest challenges to Ghana’s effort to forge ahead with its development agenda (Asante, 1964). Land disputes are rampant throughout the country and indeed, cases involving disputes over land constitute an estimated 50% of total cases filed nationally (Wood, 2002, quoted in Crook, 2005). Land management adjudication and administration institutions have been constituted by statute and, in many respects, their responsibilities clearly stated. However, their effectiveness as regulatory and judicial institutions is yet to be felt. Their operations have been marred by serious overlaps and contradictions that often undermine their individual and collective responsibility as land management bodies (see Sevenue, 2001). The institutions and agencies for allocating and distributing land and regulating land relations as well as settling land disputes include customary land management and conflict resolution authorities (e.g. traditional rulers, kinship or family groups), state courts, and state land administration authorities (e.g. the Lands Commission, District and Regional Physical Planning Authorities, the Land Title Registration Authority and the Survey Department). As Pressman and Wildavsky (1973) note, even with the best expertise and resources, coordinating the authorities and roles of these numerous and overlapping agencies in effective, institutionalised procedures and processes that provide certainty for social interactions will obviously be an uphill battle as a result of the problem of complexity of joint action.