MALAWIANS STUDY LAND ADMINISTRATION PROJECT (PAGE 24)

Story: Abdul Aziz

THE Land Administration Project (LAP) has ensured a firm foundation for the establishment of a self-sustaining land administration system that is fair, efficient, transparent and cost-effective.
It has also guaranteed security of land tenure and simplified the process of land acquisition in the country, Mr Benjamin Quaye, Head of the Planning Unit of LAP, noted at a meeting with a 10-member Malawian delegation in Accra yesterday.
The Malawian delegation are in the country to study how Ghana’s LAP operate to help in their country’s land administration.
Mr Quaye, who was giving an overview of Ghana’s land administration at the meeting, said the government of Ghana was in the process of establishing five land courts to deal with the backlog of land cases throughout the country.
He noted that already some of the 35,000 land cases that had been pending before the courts for several years had been disposed of under a fast-track system and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).
He said a recent study commissioned by the LAP revealed that there were 7,000 pending land cases in the regional capitals alone.
Mr Quaye noted that before the introduction of the land project in 2004 the weak land administration system was characterised by fragmented institutions.
He said as a result of the general indiscipline in the land market, there were indeterminate boundaries of customary owned, stool, skin and family lands, which resulted in land litigation at the law courts.
He said these confusion in land administration led to inadequate security of land tenure system, as well as difficult accessibility to land for development and agricultural ventures.
He said the long-term objectives of LAP was to reduce poverty and enhance social and economic growth by improving security of tenure and simplifying process of land acquisition in the country.
Mr Quaye noted that revenue from land rose from $13 million to $26 million last year as a result of the land reforms introduced by the Land Administration Project, which had been building the capacity of customary land owners with the establishment of Customary Land Secretariats in the communities.
Mr Stephen Machira, Project Manager of Community-Based Rural Land Development Project of Malawi, who presented a paper on land reforms in Malawi, said about 364 groups had benefited from land distribution in Malawi involving 18,264 hectares.
He said in all 8,222 households comprising 10-35 members in each household who were formerly landless were now landowners.
Mr Machira said because of the ever increasing demand for land in Malawi, the country was in the process of building capacity in land administration to help deal with the demand.
He said Ghana had made a lot of progress in land administration and the delegation was in the country to have a first-hand experience that could be replicated in Malawi.
Mr Machira said the land and agricultural extension workers in Malawi had been depleted as most had moved out of the country in search of greener pastures, while some had also reached retirement age.