It is described as legal tenure system based on customary law. The empire became known in europe and arabia as the ghana empire after the title of its emperor, the ghana. Ghana, officially republic of ghana, republic 2015 est. The majority of ghanaians still adhere to decentralised customary land tenure systems. Ghana landlinks landlinks was created by e3land, a. Dec 27, 2018 land tenure is another phrase for land ownership, frequently used outside of the united states. In subsaharan africa, the dominant land tenure system is the customary land tenure. Click download or read online button to get customary and statutory land tenure and land policy in ghana book now. It is estimated that 80 percent of the land is governed by traditional rulers 22. Land tenure reform refers to a planned change in the terms and conditions e. Sometimes one piece is sold to many people, leading to disputes and clashes.
Land and people modern ghana comprises the former british colony of the gold coast and the former mandated territory of british togoland. Customary laws are often based on experience of some social group, and are aimed at defending the interest of the group. Introduction conditions under which a tenure system leads to increases in wealth as omotunde evan george johnson has shown, a land tenure system facilitates increases in wealth when a property rights are properly defined with legal and tenure certainty, and b there is. Land tenure can be defined as the manner in which a party holds or occupies an area of land. Tenure rules help define how property rights to land are allocated within societies. In 1957, when the leaders of the former british colony of the gold coast sought an appropriate name for their newly independent statethe first black african nation to gain its independence from colonial rulethey named their new country after ancient ghana.
The paper further contends that the present land ownership system in nigeria as enshrined in the land use act of 1978 has socialist inclinations with excessive state control of land ownership, use. However some minor difference exist, for example,the issue of family property that is discussed in chapter two of these work gives clarity to the variation in family property in yoruba land and nigeria as a. There are various types of land tenure systems in uganda under under which citizens and foreigners can buy land, own and utilize it. Acquiring a piece of land in ghana can be stressful. In africa, a large portion of arable land is in tenure by smallscale farmers often women. As fisher 1993 noted, the major characteristics of customary tenure is that the land is regarded as belonging to the whole social group and not to an individual. The land administration project lap1 is the first phase of a commitment by the government of ghana to use the land administration programme to reduce poverty and enhance economicsocial growth by improving security of tenure, simplifying the process of acquiring land by the populace, developing the land market and fostering prudent land. Decades of revisionist analysis of african history have shown that customary or. Ghana landlinks landlinks was created by e3land, a usaid.
Customary and statutory land tenure and land policy in ghana. The land tenure system in ghana depicts the law of the jungle only the fittest of the fit can survive. The flexible land tenure system flts is an innovative concept to provide affordable security of tenure to inhabitants in informal settlements in namibia the basic idea of the flexible land tenure system is to establish an interchangeable tenure registration system parallel and complementary to the current formal system of freehold tenure. History and evolution of land tenure and administration in. Culture of ghana history, people, clothing, traditions.
The working of the land and the appropriation of its products in this system of land tenure are highly individualistic 1965. Land tenure is a collection of relationships which exist between members of a society by virtue of their occupation and use of land ezigbalike and benwell, 1995. However, these customary conventions are continuously being redefined due to urban expansion. Many of the land governance institutions formed to underpin the new customary tenure are a hybrid bringing together elements of traditional authority and fusing this with some of the values of statutory institutions they interface with as in the case with ghana see biitir et al. Land tenure and related institutions gender and land rights. The land tenure system is often described as communal. Explaining the different types of land tenure daily monitor.
It considers first of all tenure relations as the british found them in nigeria, ghana, sierra leone and the. Land tenure system in nigeria has been described as those systems which represent the relationship of man in society to land even though actual patterns may differ from community to community but there are certain uniformities of type in relations involved which make it possible to apply a common scheme of analysis 1 6. Land tenure and related institutions gender and land. Ghana land administration project english the world bank. Each land deal whether transparent or opaque deprives customary land users of two of their most relevant resources. Dec 01, 2008 the history of land tenure system in ikorodu land is not so much different from the customary land tenure system indigenous to nigeria. Land tenure system in nigeria has been described as those systems which represent the relationship of man in society to land even though actual patterns may differ from community to community but there are certain uniformities of type in relations involved which make it.
Lessons of experience and emerging issues lorenzo cotula, camilla toulmin and ced hesse february 2004 copies of this publication can be obtained from. Historical context of land tenure system history essay. This system fostered communal land tenure systems, in which a large group, usually the lineage, held the land in trust for its members and allocated usufruct rights on demand. Land use regulations and urban planning initiatives in accra. Power, belonging, and the remaking of history in ghana focuses on the contemporary contestations over the ownership of land in northern ghana. These lands are known as customary lands and, according to appiah 2011, these lands make up about 80 percent of all lands in ghana. Introduction land tenure system in nigeria from earliest time is one of the oldest systems in nigeria that have remained relevant until the coming of the europeans in the late 19th century. The introduction of cocoa into nigeria and ghana as a major cash crop in the late 1800s initially faced a lackofaccess to land on tenure to achieve required level of security for a tree crop. The rules governing land tenure are invented by societies to regulate land ownership behaviours. Land tenure system can be defined as the rights and institution that governs access to and use of land. The land administration project, funded by the world bank is aimed.
The issue of land tenure, allocation, distribution and management since the colonial times has been a bone of contention often leading to conflict as people scramble for the fertile, mineral deposited lands in the republic of ghana. Land in ghana is held from various stoolskin lands, families or clans, which are the allodial owners. Individuals in this region primarily obtain land for. In the south, reserved lands, known as stool lands, were held by the chief for the wider community. In tanzania over 80% of population who living in rural areas depend entirely on land through farming, livestock keeping, mining, fishing, hunting and gathering, or doing varieties of related. Apr 30, 2009 the land administration project lap1 is the first phase of a commitment by the government of ghana to use the land administration programme to reduce poverty and enhance economicsocial growth by improving security of tenure, simplifying the process of acquiring land by the populace, developing the land market and fostering prudent land.
Types of land tenure systems in uganda land ownership in. It is also referred to as a system of land relation in which the ownership of the. Feed the future soybean innovation lab sil is managed by the university of illinois through support from usaid. Notwithstanding the african union aus 2009 framework and guidance on land policy in africa that advocates a leading role for customary tenure in land governance, an almost irreversible process that can possibly be best described as neoliberalisation of customary tenure has been quietly working its way across much of subsaharan africa. Ghanas land tenure system impedes the countrys socioeconomic development, and is completely out of place in a modern, progressive country. Tenure system of land involves a system of rights, duties and responsibilities. Machacha lands division, ministry of local government and lands, gaborone, botswana. Feudal land tenure is a system of mutual obligations under which a royal or noble personage granted a fiefdom some degree of interest in the use or revenues of a given parcel of land in exchange for a claim on services such as military service or simply maintenance of the land in which the lord continued to have an interest. The empire appears to have broken up following the 1076 conquest by the almoravid general abubakr ibnumar. These relationships are dynamic and change with cultural. A study of the institution of the customary land tenure. Land is a basic resource from which all human beings and other living creatures depend upon their survival. There are also public lands, forming the remaining 20 percent, which is made up of state lands and vested.
The thesis of the book is to inform readers about the ga culture and society in general covering the time of the beginning of the ga culture and ends at the turn of the 20th century. Private ownership of land can be acquired by way of a grant, sale, gift or marriage. It considers first of all tenure relations as the british found them in nigeria, ghana, sierra leone and the gambia at the beginning of the 20th century. This process started with a scoping study followed by two scenario planning workshops with the view of soliciting input from many stakeholders for the strategy document update. Land tenure security in selected countries global report. List of books and articles about ghana history online. Land can either be owned in perpetuity or for a given period of time. Vast areas of savannah and semidesert land are in tenure by pastoralists and indigenous communities. Less tangible aspects of tenure are harder to qualify, and study of these relies heavily on either the anthropological record in the case of preliterate societies or. The republic of ghana is named after the medieval west african ghana empire. The 1986 profiles appeared as a single volume, african land tenure country profiles, in the ltc papers series, with a single continentwide synthesis of the state of land tenure. Up to the 1850s, the only major native settlements in botswana were in those regions generally east of where the railway line now runs.
Up to the 1850s, the only major native settlements in botswana were in those regions. Assessment of land tenurerelated constraints to cocoa productivity in ghana 4 20152025, with support from the world bank and cocoa industry, led by the wcf. Customary land tenure is characterised by its largely unwritten nature, and usually managed by a traditional authority such as a chief or a family head. The vast majority 68% of ghanas land is used for agriculture and 15% of it is used as permanent natural pastures. A reduced kingdom continued to exist after almoravid rule ended, and the kingdom was later. Land tenure is another phrase for land ownership, frequently used outside of the united states. Public lands are lands that are vested in the president for public use 24.
By contrast, the traditional communal land tenure system in ghana, in which land is. Land acquisitions are broadly defined to include not only the purchase of ownership rights but also the acquisition of user rights, for instance through leases or concessions, whether short or long term. However, this form of tenure was different from the kind of customary land tenure in ghana, south africa and uganda because kings controlled the egyptian state, beginning with the ottoman empire. There are many different types of land tenure, including private and public ownership, and each type of land tenure comes with a bundle of rights for the use and disposition of the property. Four years ago, naboth amanya paid shs15m for seven acres of land in mpambire village, along masaka. A conceptual approach for enhancing customary land. These lands are known as customary lands and, according. A conceptual approach for enhancing customary land management. How could the same land tenure system accommodate the largescale transition from food crops into cocoa at the opening of the 20th century and so dramatically inhibit investment in land productivity in the same area at the.
Ghana is characterized by a pluralistic legal system in which customary and statutory systems governing land overlap. The land act 1998 identifies the four forms of land tenure systems in uganda which include customary, leasehold, freehold and mailo, grants. This was revealing in some ways, but obscured significant regional characteristics of policy debates and trends in law reform. Currently, the ministry of land and natural resources is implementing lap 2 land administration project, which is the second phase of the longterm project. The great majority of land in ghana is held informally, under customary tenure systems. The land tenure and agrarian system in the new cocoa. Ghana 1st time online late december 2000, and updated since 2001.
Types of land tenure systems in uganda land ownership in uganda. Doing away with the customary land tenure system would be a dent to the cultural, historical and political foundations of the ghanaian people. In archaeology, traditions of land tenure can be studied according to territoriality and through the ways in which people create and utilize landscape boundaries, both natural and constructed. It explores the multiplicity of land claims enshrined in oral registries of ancestral compacts with the land and examines the competing ideas of property and land use advanced by different actors in the. Nov 23, 2015 doing away with the customary land tenure system would be a dent to the cultural, historical and political foundations of the ghanaian people. Customary land tenure system in ikorodu land predates to the time of the creation of ikorodu. According to the oral tradition of the people, the ancestors of the paramount chief of wassa amenfi conquered the original inhabitants of the area and took possession of their land. This paper focuses on the evolution of land tenure in anglophone west africa, although it also tries to encompass broader questions of access to natural resources. Before 1952, a chieftain land tenure system prevailed in egypt. In karamoja, land is owned under the customary land tenure system. Exploring genderbiased customary land tenure in ghana. Ghana succumbed to attacks by its neighbors in the 11th century, but its name and reputation endured.
14 1310 526 514 229 166 692 427 1433 547 920 510 133 181 1387 1272 1469 1170 162 756 1230 1366 842 434 743 898 731 1003 432 490 398 489 644 585 998