Securing Land Transactions in Dansoman, Accra
Rita Sewornu & Michael Barry
Drawing on the case of the systematic land titling project piloted in Dansoman, a suburb of Accra, Ghana, this paper investigates why and how landholders, use or do not use land registration when securing their land rights/transactions. Empirical evidence indicates that the rate of property rights formalization in Ghana and other countries in Sub-Sahara Africa is low. Land titling has been advocated by some policy makers and scholars as the answer to insecurity of transactions/rights in land in sub-Saharan Africa. Widespread tenure insecurity in urban areas and the low patronage of land registration raises two essential questions. First, if securing claims/rights to land has become such an important issue for people, why are landholders in Accra not using the land registration programmes? Secondly, if they do not use land registration, how do they secure their tenure and secure transactions in land interests? The study confirms the multi-faceted nature of the factors that influence landholders in adopting a strategy to secure tenure. It also highlights the importance of both macro level and local, micro level factors such as politics, history and culture and social change in explaining registration usage or other strategies.
Event: FIG Working Week 2015 : From the Wisdom of the Ages to the Challenges of Modern World
Only personal, non-commercial use of this document is allowed.