TITLE:
History of Land Acquisition Structures and Processes in Ghana
AUTHORS:
Osmanu Karimu Azumah, Sendawula Noah
KEYWORDS:
Historical Perspective, Land Acquisition Processes and Structures, Ghana
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.11 No.6,
June
29,
2023
ABSTRACT: This
article is related to a study on the history of land acquisition processes in
Ghana; with emphasis to the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in the Bawku
East District (BED) of Ghana. Almost everyone’s history or family root is
always a saga of attachment to or alienation from land. There is
no land without a titleholder. Naturally land belongs to three groups of
people, namely, the dead, the living, and the unborn. At any point in time, the
living is just a custodian of the land. The owner of a land is thus any person
or group of people that have the reserved right; legally or customary to use,
convey, lease, or assign a parcel of land. Land is a gift of nature, and it
encompasses components like soil, rocks, and
natural vegetation. It is observed as a public property that defined a
community’s geographical range, its economic asset and socio-cultural heritage. Land covers all minerals and holds all immovable properties and
buildings. Land is not just considered imperative to the agricultural villages but
then in contemporary times it is viewed as the key pillar for evaluating
economic growth with respect to capital and wealth. The study findings generally
revealed very unsuitable aspects of land acquisition structures and processes
that act as an obstacle to achieving the required livelihoods that accrue from
the utilization of land among the farmers in the Bawku East District (BED) of
Ghana. Findings further revealed that, escalating and ongoing land disputes continue to inhibit the productivity
of smallholder farmers mainly due to reduced cultivation, decreased investment,
and loss of economic assets. This study recommended that, the Government of Ghana should modify the current land acquisition structures and processes by
empowering and funding the Administrator of Stool lands to survey and register
all skin, clan and family lands within all the Kusaug Traditional Area;
encourage smallholder farmers to adopt and implement any of the 165 marketable
technologies developed and successfully profiled in June 2015 by the CSIR
Institutes. Furthermore, the Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036) be revised, harmonised
and consolidated to ensure sustainable land administration and management.