1. Eric Yeboah & Mark Kakraba-Ampeh
REPOSITIONING GHANA’S LAND ADMINISTRATION IN THE CONTEXT OF EMERGING GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR LAND SURVEY- FRAMEWORK TO SCALE EXISTING LEGAL AND POLICYHURDLES
Eric Yeboah & Mark Kakraba-Ampeh
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
Kumasi, Ghana
Land Resource Management Centre, Ghana

2. The Context
The dual land ownership and the case of minimal documentation of land rights
Heightening tenure vulnerabilities as a result of multiple pressures
Growing demand for spatial documentation of land rights as part of efforts to strengthen tenure security
Demand is both rural [migrant farmers, traditional authorities, value chain actors] …..and also
Urban [traditional authorities and local government authorities]

3. An emerging favourable landscape
The ongoing Ghana Land Administration Project is creating opportunity to improve documentation of land rights
Establishing and strengthening operations/systems of deed offices in all 10 administrative regions
Ortho-Photo maps to speed up documentation
Customary Land Secretariats
Rural Parcel Rights Demarcation
Customary Boundary Demarcation
Increasing awareness on the part of land users (migrant farmers, traditional authorities, etc)

4. The Challenge
Survey activities are state-led and grounded on existing survey standards which lack the needed flexibility and responsiveness
Existing legal and policy environment fuels exclusion of many from the national cadastre
Heavy state funding for the various projects.
Difficulty in implementing on scale
Sustainability concerns after project

5. The Changing Landscape: Emerging Technologies

6. Economics of Precision
Driving Principle
Economics of Precision

7. Generating the spatial Data
Case Study
Generating the spatial Data

8. Tracing Root of Title and Capturing attribute data

10. The added value of flexible tools
Cost
Ghana Land Administration Project: USD 420,000 for 3,856 parcels (this excludes endorsement fee by traditional authorities)
Average of USD 109 per parcel (not based on acreage although an average farm size is 4-5 acres)
Flexible approaches: USD per first 5 acres including endorsement by traditional authorities
Speed
Speed under the Ghana Land Administration Project is sporadic, ranging from 1-6 years
Flexible approaches: Within 2 months including state level/traditional endorsements
Participatory, Flexibility and local legitimacy

11. The Hurdles
An existing legal and policy environment that lack the needed flexibility to be responsive to emerging dynamics

12. Qualification of Persons to carry out survey
All relevant laws (such as Act 122, 1962; Act 127, 1962 and PNDCL 152) are unanimous that the power to carry out any form of survey is vested in the Director of Surveys.
The Director of Surveys in practice tends to delegate this power to authorized agents such as licensed or official surveyors.
Maps and plans which are not prepared and executed by approved agents are not recognized
There is over-concentration of surveyors in urban centres

13. Requirement of Permanent Boundary Markers
Expensive, burdensome and can result in the exclusion of the aged and physically challenged

15. No graduated accuracy levels
There is a direct relationship between high accuracy levels and cost
Ensuring high accuracy is important. However, this must be looked at within the context of the value of the land that is to be surveyed.
Economies of precision/accuracy require that, in areas of low land pressures and land values, lower accuracy surveys which are cheaper but fit-for-purpose could be employed
As land values rise, corresponding accuracy surveys can then be employed
In this way, the cost of survey, as a percentage of land value will be considerably low.

16. Reflections Customary land administration is dominate in Ghana
Customary Land Secretariats are increasingly documenting land transactions although such recordation are not often referenced spatially
There is growing demand for spatially documenting land rights
Conventional approaches are expensive (up to 70 percent of land value in rural areas) and the processes can be slow
Survey methodologies must be responsive both to the social and economic make up of the target group

17. Recognition of ‘intermediary surveyors’ (such as trained Customary Land Secretariat Coordinators)whose work can be done under the supervision of more qualified surveyors.
THANK YOU