LAND GUARDS: ARE THEY THE CAUSE OF LAND INSECURITY IN GHANA?

LAND GUARDS: ARE THEY THE CAUSE OF LAND INSECURITY IN GHANA?

The writers: Mr. Benjamin Kwakye and Surv. Geoffrey Osafo Osei

Introduction

Land being one of the most valuable assets that each and every nation can own is fixed in supply. The increase in population and migration into the cities, municipal and district capitals has led to an incessant increase in the demand for land. Currently, the use of land - guards as a means of securing land is taking its root in the country, most especially in the prime cities like Accra, Tema, Kumasi and Takoradi with Accra and Tema being the foremost.

 In other Regional and District capitals the situation is similar except that it is not passionate as that of the cities mentioned and has not caught the attention on the media to make it brouhaha.

It is worth mentioning that, the traditional ways of securing land is more preferred in the municipal and districts in Ghana than the use of land - gurds and the court system due to the cost involve. The country therefore needs to take a holistic approach to bring the land menace under control.

The challenge: Ownership Perspective

The challenges that have brought about the increasing land – guard activities have been framed in the form of questions. The question is: who owns what piece of land?, who is responsible for the allocation of a piece of land?, is it the state through the lands commission, the chief, the head of the family only, the usufructs  or other individuals who have already acquired?. Who allocates vested stool lands and who are the beneficiaries of vested land revenue?, what happens if there is an anarchy between the Commission and the stool or chief, the chief and his subject, individual members of the family and the family head regarding allocation?. These among others are the fundamental challenges of multiple sale of land in the country.

Registration Perspective

By statutes the Lands Commission of Ghana is given the sole responsibility to register any piece of land in Ghana. The question is: does the commission register a land if the lessee or allotee have not gone there to register?, does the commission know the owner(s) of such land before allocation?, if one fails to register his Land at the commission by which ever reason does that mean it has not been duly acquired?, whose signature does the commission require before registration?, is or are there any background check by the commission regarding ownership before registration? What is the cost and the processes for registration and are they motivative enough to encourage people to register their lands?

After Acquisition

Land wars and litigations intensify after acquisition and this is the stage where the activities of land guards become mammoth. It is worth mentioning that first lessees or allotees or buyers of land contributes to the land menace in diverse way aside the complex ownership structure and registration challenges. It has been noted that, many people who acquire land leaves it shrub and undeveloped for long time. Some also gives it out for caretakers   to farm on it until they are ready for development. It is realistic that some of these caretakers do sell the land at                                                                    exorbitant prices and run – away without the knowledge or permission of the owners. The perturbing part of this situation is when the land is left shrub causing nuisance and insecurity where all surrounding properties have been developed. Several efforts may be done to trace the owner but may proof futile. The owner only surfaced when he or she realizes that his land has been resold either by a chief, another family member or any other person who have an interest in the said piece of land. This is not to say that one does not own the land. Even with perfect acquisition and registration, this awkward attitude by some allottees will still impede the land administration system and increase the existence of land gurd activities. The paramount reason given by alloettee or lessees who fail to develop their land and take possession are usually financial constraints.   However, when they realize their lands are being physically possessed or encroached by other parties they have the resources to hire the activities of “macho men” so called land guards to protect their lands for several months or years. These resources could have been used to secure the land to avert the situation. It has been realized that the public attention is just on the activities of the landgurds without paying attention to the perpetrators who resell lands and the owners who fail to develop their land and only engage the activities of landgurds when there is tension on the land. Fighting land guard activities must be concurrent with the perpetrators both from the allocation and the acquisition point of view. The country therefore needs to take a holistic approach both in the short term and the long term to curtail this for the nation’s development.

The way forward:

Taking physical possession and developing or securing one’s land is not necessary putting up a massive structure on the land, but one could start the development of a fence wall at least three block step as a means of securing his or her land in the interim which is less expensive compared to the development of the main building. This kind of development would: avert boundary problem with adjoining lands, reduce the rate of encroachment, limits the tendency of other aggrieved owners who did not received some of the proceeds from the sale,  and reduce the confidence of potential people who have interest in the acquisition of the said piece of land unless there is a deliberate attempt. In case of dispute one could then rationalize that he or she started development but because of financial constraints work has been impeded. This is more reasonable than leaving the lands shrub for a longer period of time some over 10 years. It is imperative to say that some people merely hold the land for speculative purpose other than development.

In the long term, the country needs to capture details of who owns what piece of land even before it is disposed off. When this is done the subsequent task would just be transfers once the details are already available.  The current practice of individual owners who have acquired land going to the commission to register their land, the cost involved and the period of registration are indeed not helping the current land administration system in Ghana.

Conclusion

To coin it up, to be able to sanitize the land market: land insecurity and the activities land guards must be tackled from the complex ownership structure, registration, development and enforcement of land and development laws in the country.