Land ownership in Ghana and its effect on Socio-economic development

     The current constitution of Ghana identifies four main categories of land ownership. These include: public/state lands, vested lands, allodial/stool /skin lands and private/family lands. First of all the distinctions among these forms of land ownership are fairly straight forward. Public/state lands refer of all lands owned by the state. These mostly include lands endowed with natural resources as well as other lands acquired by the government for public interest. Vested lands refer to lands for which an individual or a group has an absolute right to for some present or future interest. The third form of land ownership in Ghana is the allodial/stool/skin lands. In Ghana, each traditional community originates from a clan. A clan is a group of people who believe to have descended from a common ancestor, and who share the same beliefs and taboos and are mostly the original settlers of a particular community. The chiefs or traditional rulers of the community are usually members of the clan. All lands that are collectively owned and kept by the head of the clan, who is also most times the chief of the community, are called stool/skin lands. Quite often than not, these lands are believed to be spiritual lands and are not meant to be used by anybody for any purpose. The last category of land ownership is the private or family land. Family lands are those lands purchased individually of jointly by a family. These lands are also more often than not inherited from parents or grandparents.

     Over the years some people have raised concern about the existing land tenure system in Ghana and regard it as anachronistic and the need for an urgent reform. These people have also argued that Ghana’s land tenure system impedes the country’s socio-economic development, and is completely out of place in a modern, progressive country. From a personal point of view, I share the same concern as these people and the reasons I shall discuss below.

     First of all, the current land tenure system constitutes a serious disincentive to investment in Ghana’s economy. The lack of several large-scale commercial agricultural projects in Ghana, similar to those existing in some francophone West African countries such as the Ivory Coast, can be partly attributed to the problems associated with acquiring land for economic activities.

     It is unlikely that serious large overseas investors would be prepared to undertake protracted negotiations, on a one-to-one basis, with several allodial title holders in order to put together suitable large parcels of land for large-scale commercial agricultural projects. Even where this is possible, investors potentially face the problem of on-going litigation over the legal right of the land they have acquired or leased.

     It is not uncommon for the rights to land, which has already been leased or rented and compensation duly paid by an investor to one allodial titleholder, to be challenged or disputed by another allodial titleholder. There have been instances where disputes have arisen when individuals had successfully negotiated parcels of land for residential/commercial construction only to be challenged by other parties, who also claim ownership of, or interest in, the same parcel of land.

     Throughout Ghana’s history, the nation’s peasant farmers have done a wonderful job in feeding the country based on subsistence agriculture. This mode of production may continue to sustain the nation if the aim is only to satisfy Ghana’s domestic food needs. Peasant agriculture cannot continue to meet Ghana’s domestic food needs as well as exports. Quite unfortunately, the few people who are usually interested in commercial farming would not be given this allodial /skin lands of to farm on for reasons best known to these chiefs.

     In light of these economic draw backs arising from the current land tenure system in Ghana, an urgent reform of land ownership laws could be a great way to move forward.