Clarity on land ownership necessary for development

The Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, last week impressed upon traditional chiefs in the country to have clear records of ownership of lands in their respective paramountcies in the interest of the nation.

According to her, “the subject of the proper administration of land ownership has now become an extremely sore point that the courts need the active attention of our Houses of Chiefs and ethnic leadership to address.”  

Speaking at the 2023 Annual Chief Justice’s Forum in Ho in the Volta Region at the beginning of the month on the theme: “Building the pillars of justice,” Justice Torkornoo pointed out that land management issues were becoming “huge blockades on the administration of justice in the country.”

Thus, “whether land ownership was traced to clans, families or stools, it was invariably a matter of custom and a fact that could be determined only by clear and cogent evidence presented by leaders of stools, clans or families that owned the lands,” she said to emphasise her point about the need for a clear record of land ownership by chiefs.

Indeed, the Chief Justice’s call buttresses prior concerns about land ownership and administration in the country.

 It is, however, a call by the third most important person in Ghana, and also a call by the country’s primus inter pares judge.

 Thus, it is to be heeded and acted upon.

Land is a strategic asset which forms the basis of every development activity, hence the need for formal land administration to promote development at all levels.

It is so important for life that it is given constitutional character in Chapter 21 of the 1992 Constitution.

That is, it is captured among the basic norms or fundamental laws of the country.

Land is, thus, fundamental to existence.

This character of land has resulted in several efforts from colonial times to date, to get a firm grasp of our land administration system in the country.

In pre-colonial times, lands were vested in stools, skins and families.

In the colonial period, the British had land policies that mainly related to expropriation (with compensation) and appropriation (without compensation).

Post-independence times, however, have some lands and natural resources vested in the President, with some chiefs holding allodial titles and giving some rights to individuals while some family heads, stools and skins are also in possession of some titles.

The plethora of land ownership cases in the country are impeding development.

The situations where undefined land ownership results in a multiplicity of fake contracts in the acquisition of land and their attendant litigation in the courts can also be traced to the same factor.

These challenges have seen the setting up of several committees and commissions of inquiry in the land sector.

Our latest attempt at ensuring reforms in the land sector is the land administration project.

However, it seems that some challenges persist. 

The report of the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) that looked into the review of the 1992 Constitution presents legislative and administrative actions to ensure that some of these challenges are surmounted.

Some of these actions can also help clarify land ownership, and the Chief Justice has placed that responsibility on chiefs.

The Daily Graphic hopes that the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs will pay attention to this issue and provide technical support to the chiefs to fulfil this responsibility.

The chiefs themselves must in their individual and collective capacities initiate ways of carrying out this responsibility.

Land is life and non-negotiable in relation to a country’s development, and there must be clarity in its ownership, tenure and administration.

We must get it right if we want development in Ghana.