PARAMOUNT CHIEFS FROM 3 REGIONS ATTEND WORKSHOP (PAGE 29, NOV 25

A NUMBER of paramount chiefs and their elders from 14 traditional councils in the Brong Ahafo Region and their counterparts from the Tepa Traditional Area in Ashanti as well as those from Sefwi Wiawso in the Western Region, have attended a workshop on Customary Boundary Demarcation (CBD) under the on-going Ghana Land Administration Project (LAP).
The CBD is to ensure that there was peaceful co-existence of traditional neighbours, ensure orderly development and to form the basis for efficient and effective land registration system in the country.
The demarcation process has become necessary because 80 per cent of land in Ghana is in the custody of chiefs who are in charge of stool/skin lands and that the lands of traditional authorities, such as the paramountcies, are large tracts from which other lesser lands or ownership derive.
Again, the CBD is necessary since the boundaries of most stools/skins have been found to be indeterminate.
In a presentation, Mr W.K. Opoku, an expert of CBD stated that the benefits to be derived from the exercise included security of tenure, minimisation of external land disputes, enhancement value of land, effective management of other natural resources for wealth creation, improvement of investment opportunities as well as efficient and effective land administration and management.
He said to derive those benefits, it required effective collaboration, co-operation and participation from the traditional councils, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, represented by officials of LAP while the district assemblies, Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs), non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community-based organisations (CBOs) and all stakeholders, lend their support.
“With this we expect to see the traditional councils derive maximum benefits from their stool lands," he said.
Giving an overview of the Ghana LAP, Mr Kofi Abaka Blankson of the Planning Unit stated that the long term objective of the project was to reduce poverty and enhance socio-economic growth, through improving security of tenure, simplifying the management practices, developing the land market and establishing an efficient and sustainable system of land administration, both state and customary.
He said the objective of the phase one of the project which started in 2003 and expected to end in 2010, was to undertake land policy and institutional reforms and key land administration pilots for laying the foundation for a sustainable decentralised land administration system that was fair, efficient, cost effective and ensured land tenure security.
Mr Blankson stated that CBD in the Ejisu area in the Ashanti Region had been completed while the draft final reports of the phase one of the CBD exercise in Wassa had been submitted for a review.
He added that sensitisation exercise for six additional areas were on-going while revaluation of properties in five district assemblies had also been completed.
According to him, the full co-operation and assistance of all stakeholders were required to make the exercise a success.