RURAL PARCEL RIGHTS DEMARCATION IN GHANA EXPOSITION AND CRITIQUE
Gad Asorwoe Akwensivie, Clarence Bosompim Coleman
Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Ghana
The absence of reliable maps, plans and land data in Ghana has for some years impacted
negatively on development both at national and local levels. The use of unapproved, old or inaccurate maps has resulted in boundary disputes and litigations leading to congestion at the law courts making the
judiciary inundated with land cases and unable to function efficiently. The problem continues to drive investors away to neighboring countries. This has denied the country access to Foreign Direct Investment an important driver for economic development. The result of all these is that the country continues to lose
development projects.
To help ease this bottleneck, the Government with the assistance from her development partners including the World Bank launched the medium to long term (15-25years) Land Administration Project (LAP) in
2003. The aim of LAP is to improve the land administration system through institutional and process reforms for both the state and the customary land owners. The reforms aim at improving tenure security,
simplifying the processes of land ownership, identification, registration, acquisition and ultimately enhance economic and social growth to reduce poverty.
A Rural Parcel Rights Demarcation (RPRD) program is being implemented as part of LAP based on substantial innovation and on strong, fruitful collaborative relationship between different actors. RPRD
started slowly, building with caution on lessons as they emerged.
This study seeks to expand understanding of the Rural Parcel Rights Demarcation program to highlight
implementation successes and challenges. The work aims to demonstrate the outcome of the
implementation of the Rural Parcel Rights Demarcation over a period of 5 years (2012 to 2017).
Event: Land Governance in an Interconnected World_Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty_2018
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