Land Acquisition In Ghana - a resume´ 2009

Looking down from Aplaku hillside near Israel junction, out to the Gulf of Guinea

I think I as the Editor should warn at the beginning that land purchase in Accra ,Ghana is a minefield, complicated and is a bit like an onion with several subtext levels going on . I have also found that no one seems to know everything about land.

Buying land is a bit like buying a car, the paper work might all be in order- all the boxes are ticked but that doesn't stop you from ending up buying a " dog " .

Most problems occur in Accra, particularly along the coast, the least trouble area near to Accra is Aburi, which is a town in the eastern region of Ghana.

Next is a general outline about land, and I thank David Cofie for his help on this putting together this page, which is a summary to try and simplify and aid the understanding of the process of land purchase; its not a PhD thesis of tribal customs.

After that I have outlined some problems with land which are from my experience of buying land with my wife and what we found out the hard way

Most land in a town which hasn't already been sold is stool land which basically means that the land is owned and supervised on behalf of that town, by the main chief of that town.

Accra land along the actually belongs the Ga people and is thus a Ga State ; Chiefs of Accra are currently under the leadership of King Tackie Tawiah III, who's official title is " Ga Mantse".

Land is sold by the means of an "Indenture Lease" usually for a period of 99 years. At the expiration of the lease term there are options to extend the lease, which are explained within the lease document.

A chief of a town may decide that land within the boundary of his supervision can be sold perhaps in order to raise funds for a local school development and for other purposes for the benefit of the local community. This land may likely be "raw land" meaning that it hasn't been surveyed,identified, or measured into plots. Thus surveyors from the lands commission are involved in visiting the land prior to sale so that it can be measured and given a surveyors plot identification.

One way or the other the process of land purchase is going to involve the main chief of the area in which the land is located. The key paper work involved is that upon payment to the chief, the chief will issue to the purchaser an "Indenture lease" and also a transfer document. Both are taken to the lands commission so that they can record in their books who is the rightful owner of the said land.

the chief is usually not approached directly but through an elder and by custom a bottle of Gin or Schnapps and some money is taken for this elder's time and trouble in dealing with you. Schnapps is also involved on any dealings with the Chief himself.

Problems

There are a few implications arising from the way land is sold , and a number of things that should perhaps ; be done before you get into the nitty gritty of the actual land purchase

First i have been told by surveyors is to find out the history of the land , does it have a history of problems, who are the people who populate where the land you want to but is situated. For instance the people in Aburi are Akuapim, I think its fair to say they are generally placid and honest.

. Also its best find out who actually is the official chief; in Accra a visit can be made to the House of Chiefs , which is located in Osu, there you can find out which chief represents which area.

Find out how long he has been a chief, is he the permanent chief or a temporary chief, filling in for a while because the permanent chief just died. If you purchase land and the indenture came from a temporary chief, and all your paperwork has not been completed and logged at the land registry before the temporary chief is replaced . you could have problems.

This is because when you try to complete the process at the land registry, the land registry will not recognize the temporary chief anymore, and therefore not the indenture signed by him. They will turn you away and you will then be in limbo .

Suppose the new chief wasn't happy with the fact that they sold that bit of land you have. You will have to deal with the new chief to get a new Indenture -Its not unusual to have to pay twice for land.

As an actual example Nii Tetteh Nartey was a temporary chief in Aplaku, near Kokrobitye. When he was the offical stand in chief he wasn't exactly what could be described as a " regular guy " .

Since he has been replaced he could only be described as a crook. What i can tell you is that he used an illiterate to sell land owned by some else. This illiterate was arrested by the true land owners and he admitted the fact that Nartey was the perpetrator of fraud to the CID police, he has been arrested twice in the last four months. Court cases are pending

Sample page inside indenture

Even with an official sitting permanent chief find out as much as you can from everybody if the chief is a straight up guy or not.

If the chief has pissed a few people off it will not be that difficult to find out

Also go to the lands commission office and request for a small fee "a land information search ", which will give you various information such as:

Are the lands and description satisfactory ? -yes/no
Does the site fall on Government lands ? -yes/no
is it affected by any Government Proposals? -yes/no
is it affected by any concession? -yes/no
does it affect any recorded Government Judgment ? yes/no

Once you have bought your land you will probably soon find out if there were issues with it or not . Land guards are basically local groups, stating that their function is to protect the chiefs land. In practice if someone knows there is a vulnerability issue on your land, you will find land guards hassling you, stating the land belongs to someone else. They then start threating you, that since you don't own the land, they will demolish what you build unless you tip them money to leave you alone

if this doesn't happen everything is hunky dory and you dont get problems, dont think your land is safe. If you live abraod there is nothing to stop someone building on your land say a small hotel. You return to Ghana and find that someone has trespassed your land and has built a hotel what are you going to do ?

You go to the police and the lawyers get involved -get ready to waste money ! Also you may quite probably loose the case because the law at the moment favors development, so they may actually back the trespasser, but you get the money you paid for the land awarded back to you. But where does that leave you ? - It leaves you with no land, to start the whole process again and a hole in your pocket due to the court case !

Since the N.D.C political party took over in January things may tighten up. I have heard that Indenture leases in Accra will all be finally be approved by the Ga Mantse himself , if not the lease will legally not hold water