The document discusses challenges with land ownership and access to land in Ghana that inhibit economic development and wealth creation. It notes that land disputes are a major stumbling block for many investments and projects. While the government has undertaken various land reforms, implementation has been slow and piecemeal. Securing large tracts of land from customary owners is cumbersome. This leaves most agricultural activities at a subsistence level and prevents the development of industries that require vast land areas. The lack of clear land titles also means properties cannot be used as collateral for loans. To address this, the document suggests the government directly acquire lands and establish land banks to lease to investors. Formalizing land ownership through clear titling is also key to unleash the

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The Conspiracy against Wealth Creation - The Issue of Land Reform
Recently the private sector has been receiving attention as an engine of growth of the economy.
Steps have been taken to embolden this consideration by initiating reforms aimed at
consolidating policies enhancing Public Private Partnerships, Local Content and Investment
promotion in general.By taking such initiatives, government hopes to remove the roadblocks that
inhibit efforts at marrying private initiatives with government objectives to develop the Ghanaian
economy, and in addition, to empower Ghanaian private individuals to lead the economic
renaissance. Through such a stance, Ghanaian individuals will be empowered to add value,
increase incomes, create surplus and produce a favorable end result of wealth creation.
But as well meaning as these initiatives are, they may not generate the desired results considering
the mammoth challenges connected to land disputes in the country.Arguably,land disputes
remain a stumbling block in many investment initiatives today: Farmers have not been able to
transcend subsistence borders into plantations; Real Estate Institutions have had to contend with
multiple sales of lands among others. Projects that have needed vast transfer of land have been
inhibited by an inability to secure large parcels of land from many allodial title holders.
Thistrend has affected investmentsthat need land .The results are reflected in the lack of raw
materials for the nation’s industries, inability of mortgage institution to reach out to the teeming
population who need houses. Even more, banks have not been able to accept land and buildings
with questionable ownership status as collateral to advance loans to beneficiaries. Thus in a
capitalist economy like ours characterized by private initiative, land which has been, and remains
the bedrock of economic development and wealth creation, may not function well as it is not
given legal status to spawn wealth for its owners.
Importance of Land
Land plays an important role in any economy;among others,it is the only resource that provides
space for the other means of production to work .It also serves as the resource on which natural
raw materials needed for production are produced.A majority of Ghanaians depend on land for
their food and incomes. According to the Statistical Service, 4 million Ghanaians constituting
54% of the labor force engage the country’s land mass to contribute to 30 % of GDP. The agric
sector accounts for 57% ofthe country’s foreign exchange earnings.
In Ghana and in many other countries, land tenure security is suitable for collateral for mortgage
purposes and a determinant of real estate value. Land assumes such status because it is
immovable, indestructible,does not require much to maintain and is easily transferable.It is an
asset that generates rent as income and, land is convertible to capital.
According to the UNCHS, security of land rights is a sine qua non in creating a basis for poverty
reduction towards achieving sustained economic development. Importantly, it is the projection of
land as an important factor that differentiates Ghana and the rest of the Developing world from

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its Western counterparts.Despite the role of land in wealth creation and economic development,
access to land, whether for agric, real estate or manufacturing purposes remains a major problem
in Ghana. For the majority in this country, the status quo implies lack in the midst of plenty (as
the country is blessed with vast expanse of land), but smooth transfer of ownership for the land
to perform its economic functions favorably and efficiently, largely remains a fiasco. In a
capitalist system like ours, characterized by the promotion of private ownership and
initiative,land as an asset is not free to produce capital.According to De Soto (2004), it explains
the reason why capitalism has worked in the West and failed everywhere else.
In the West every asset, be it a parcel of land or building is represented in writing- whether it be
a title, security, or contract document lumped as part of a vast representational process linked to
the rest of the economy.This representational process is lacking in many Less Developed
Countries including Ghana.
A Historical Perspective.
This country’s attempts at reform date back to the colonial times. Historically, in order to secure
property rights for investors to venture into cashcrop, timber and mineral exploitation, the
colonial government passed the Crown Land Bill of 1894.However Chiefs and their subjects
vehemently opposed it. Thus the bill was never passed, and huge investments intended for those
industries were nipped in the bud. The Lands Bill of 1897 followed with similar results (Arête et
al, 2007).Following these were a flurry of reforms initiated by the Nkrumah government.
Prominent among these reforms was the State Lands Act of 1962 which was used by the
president to acquire land compulsorily for investment purposes.Then came in a National Land
Policy document passed by government in 1999.The latter,culminated into a Land
Administration Project (LAP)sponsored by the World Bank and others. This project was
perceived as the one that will settle land disputes and free lands for investments.
Activities to be undertakenunder the project included preparation of a national spatial
development framework, establishment of customary land secretariat, modernization of survey
and mapping intended at aiding the planning and registration processes, anddevelopment of a
computerized land information system. The project also purported to provide support to the
Judiciary in the establishment of land courts as well as support the Accra Metropolitan Assembly
in geo-referencing, street naming and house numbering in the Accra Metropolis.
Unfortunately, the project is alleged to be suffering from setbacks as implementing agencies
have reportedly been lax at achieving milestones in a timely manner. Thus implementation has
been piecemeal,slow-paced and disjointed.

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Land as Dead Capital
Despite the importance attached to land, its ability to create wealth for Ghanaians remains
elusive. This is because as mentioned before, they must be given legal status in order for them to
produce capital. InGhana, land ownership is largely in the hands of individuals, families, clans,
skins or stools. These are all classified as customary institutions. Acquiring land from these
institutions, however, has not been formalized and usually involves, among other things,
interfacing with several intermediaries at a time. This makes the acquisition process
cumbersome, and prone to improper documentation, indeterminate land bounderies, and
fraud.Most of the time the aforementioned challenges lead to litigations and disputes over the
piece of land.
Currently, it is estimated that land related disputes account for over 90 percent of all cases in the
courts. These disputes normally relate to indeterminate boundaries of Stools or Skins,
compulsory land acquisitions by government without due compensation, land use by estate
developers and/or farmers, and those between mining companies and communities. This is one
important reason why prospects of properties such as land, remain untapped in many
LessDeveloped Countries like Ghana. In his earlier book, ‘The Other Path,’ (1986) De Soto
projected the argument that giving negotiable land rights to the poor could help unlock their
potential and enable them to participate more fully in a market economy.
Data from the statistical service shows that the lowest incomes are recorded among farmers in
this country. Further, the incidence of poverty is highest among food crop farmers. Considering
the fact that a majority of Ghanaians are still engaged in the agric sector, such statistics should be
a basis of worry. In addition, employment in the informal sector is observed to be growing over
the years with increased participation of employable youth in agric. Despite the huge
participation of Ghanaian youths in this sector, there are inhibiting factors that account for their
lack of growth and wealth. One significant challenge facing these youth is the subsistent nature
of their enterprise. The non-availability of large tracts of land due to the land tenure regime in
farming communities in this country leaves much to be desired. A lot of farms have had the
potential of going commercial if farmers had had access to larger farms. Where they are
available, securing them is cumbersome and expensive.
This leaves very small surpluses which are not able to meet the needs of industry or an export
market. Thus most agric investments that would have courted large investments have not met the
desired aspirations. Malaysia’s oil palm industry has been successful because it is cultivated on
vast land. From the main airport in Malaysia, one travels through miles of oil palm trees to get to
the capital Kuala Lumpur. Coincidentally, one of Benso Oil Palm Plantation’s biggest setbacks
had been disputes related to the land on which the palm trees are cultivated.The same trend
explains the reason why Ghana has not been able to optimize its comparative advantage of
producing industrial starch for industry and export.

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Registered lands and properties developed on secured lands are also useful as they are traded as
collateral for loans.In the US for example,the most important source of funds for new businesses
is a mortgage on a house the investor owns.In Ghana though a significant number of investors
have used this method as means for raising equity from banks, the success stories could have
been more if efforts were made at securing land. However, currently, many lands and properties
developed on land have not been successful at raising loans. According to the Land Title
Registry in Accra, many lands that had been presented for registration by owners or financial
institutions with the intention of granting credit could not go through registration procedures. In
fact, out of a total of 118,006 land documents presented between 1994 and Oct 2010, the number
of leases and mortgage land documents that were issued certificates (28%) were far less than
those that were not issued (72%).Reasons given for such statistic included disputes over
ownership and improper documentation. Such improper documentation (or lack of it) of assets
including land, categorizes them as “Dead Capital” according to De Soto (2000).
In consideration of all the foregoing, it is business initiatives that suffer. With a population size
over 24 million growing at an intercensal rate of 2.5% per annum, Ghana’s population is
expected to exceed 30 million by the year 2020.These figures are however not corroborated with
commensurate housing units. Out of a total of some 2 million housing units in the year 2000,
housing in rural areas represented 66 %.This means that the deficit was more severe in the urban
areas.Adding to the fact that land is more valuable in the urbanthan in the rural areas and the fact
that an average of 8.7 persons live per household, there are great prospects for real estate.
However these opportunities are terribly hampered by the gross land acquisition problems in the
country. Successive governments have exacerbated the problem by not paying at all or paying
less for their compulsory acquisitions of lands.Kotey (1994) reports that approximately half of all
Ga Lands have been expropriated by the government for which little or no compensation has
been paid. More so, successive governments have not put the lands to their intended use, leading
to general uncertainty over the ownership of these lands.
Importantly, if major portions of lands in Ghana had been registered, they would have provided
basis for huge investment into large commercial farming whether cash or food crop, real estate
and mortgaging would have flourished to provide housing for the teeming population at reduced
cost. Housing facilities on secured land would have provided a link to the house owners credit
history, been an accountable address for the collection of debts, rates and taxes for local
authorities and for government itself, securities such as mortgage-backed bonds would have been
created, and made rediscounting and selling on secondary markets feasible and public utilities
would have been delivered more efficiently. More importantly jobs would have been provided,
incomes earned and wealth created.

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Suggestions
In order to avoid a situation of investors dealing with several intermediaries and owners in the
purchasing of vast lands and thereby making them vulnerable to fraud and litigations,
government could directly acquire such lands from their owners and lease them to these
investors. Rental income generated from such sale could then be used to compensate the
landowners. In cases of communal ownership of these lands, compensation could be in the form
of developing these communities and thereby enhancing their social wealth.
Land Banks could also be created for investors using this method. In this sense, government
acquires land from their owners for leasing or renting for long term purposes. Ideally, such land
banks should be serviced with utilities and roads and all those things needed for private
investments.
Government should also begin to encourage the recent demand by some Western region chiefs to
regard land acquired from them for Oil and Gas exploration purposes, as their equity in these
projects. Most importantly, people of this country will benefit immensely if the government gets
the Land Project back on track. The toothaches peculiar to implementing this project should be
addressed, as it will lead to the freeing of lands for the many purposes access to land brings to an
economy.
To conclude,Ghana’s quest for economic development with its visible consequence of liberation
from poverty and accumulation of wealth for all remains elusive so long as fundamentals remain
misplaced. Access to land remains one of those very important ingredients to attaining such
goals.However laws and policies related to the freeing of land for those huge investments,
whether for agro, housing or civil related purposes remain rudimentary, and therefore, are unable
to project the Ghanaian to attain aspirations of a better life, owning property, creating and
transferring wealth and being able to compete in a globalised economy.
Leadership of the country should therefore take the initiative to make short term sacrifices to
achieve long term results,by giving impetus to private initiative,graduating individuals from their
mere aspirations of survival to greater output and productivity, whilst providing sufficient
surplus for greater incomes and wealth.