Formalising Customary Land Rights in Ghana: Can Participatory Customary Land Administration Improve The Contemporary Situation?

The shift of the discourse on customary land tenure systems and administration towards the statutory recognition of customary land rights and the strengthening of the capacity of customary land administration at the turn of the millennium has accelerated the development and implementation of neoliberal land policies across many countries in Africa. Studies show that implementing neoliberal land policies has sustained colonial distortions in African customary land administration in post colonial era. In Ghana, the perpetuation of the falsifications in the colonial customary land administration in post-colonial period has resulted in the non-recognition of traditional council members, queen mothers, and citizens in legal frameworks as key actors in customary land governance. The realities of formalisation of customary land rights manifest in peri urban areas when land values escalate due to peri-urbanisation. Traditional leaders redefine the existing customs and evict the indigenes from the customary lands without the state’s interference.