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Customary succession and re-issuance of land documents in Ghana: Implications on peri-urban land developers in Kumasi

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  • Kidido, Joseph K.
  • Biitir, Samuel B.

Abstract

In parts of Ghana, the position of a chief and land are intrinsically linked. The desire to control economic resources especially land attached to the stool or skin office, has served as an impetus for intense contestation in the chieftaincy successions in peri-urban areas. However, urban expansion has manifested in depriving successive customary land trustees or chiefs of revenues from peri-urban land transactions due to a growing shortage of vacant lands. As a result, several dynamics and strategies unfold when new chiefs are installed in the land market space. This paper examines customary successions and re-issuance of land documents in three selected peri-urban communities in Kumasi, where land is increasingly becoming scarce. The study adopted a qualitative survey design approach where data were collected from land developers in three purposively selected peri-urban communities in Kumasi. The paper finds that newly installed chiefs re-issued land documents such as allocation notes, site plans, and receipts to property developers as revenue mobilization strategies. The re-issuance does not seek to improve the old records but has more to do with the monetary incentives. The practice imposes a financial burden on the developers with non-indigenes paying higher amounts, undermining the previous chiefs' authority, and creating uncertainty and confusion in the land market. It is recommended that the traditional leaders led by the National House of Chiefs should develop rules and regulations to regulate how newly installed chiefs should deal with lands that their predecessors have already allocated. The study results also underscore the need for the chiefs to invest portions of 'drink money' they take from land grants to benefit succeeding generations.

Suggested Citation

  • Kidido, Joseph K. & Biitir, Samuel B., 2022. "Customary succession and re-issuance of land documents in Ghana: Implications on peri-urban land developers in Kumasi," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:120:y:2022:i:c:s0264837722002976
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2022.106270
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kasanga, R. Kasim & Cochrane, Jeffrey A. & King, Rudith & Roth, Michael J., 1996. "Land Markets And Legal Contradictions In The Peri-Urban Area Of Accra Ghana: Informant Interviews And Secondary Data Investigations," Research Papers 12747, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Land Tenure Center.
    2. Akaateba, Millicent Awialie, 2019. "The politics of customary land rights transformation in peri-urban Ghana: Powers of exclusion in the era of land commodification," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    3. Adwoa Yeboah Gyapong, 2021. "Commodification of family lands and the changing dynamics of access in Ghana," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(6), pages 1233-1251, May.
    4. Feder, Gershon & Noronha, Raymond, 1987. "Land Rights Systems and Agricultural Development in Sub-Saharan Afric a," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 2(2), pages 143-169, July.
    5. Agbosu, Lennox Kwame, 2000. "Land Law In Ghana: Contradition Between Anglo-American And Customary Conceptions Of Tenure And Practices," Working Papers 12796, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Land Tenure Center.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sasu, Alexander & Javed, Arshad & Imran, Muhammad & Squires, Graham, 2024. "Land banking, land price and Ghana’s informal land markets: A relational complexity approach," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    2. Adjei-Poku, Bernard & Afrane, Samuel K. & Amoako, Clifford & Inkoom, Daniel K.B., 2023. "Customary land ownership and land use change in Kumasi: An issue of chieftaincy sustenance?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).

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