Abstract
In Ghana, traditionally, the allodial (paramount) interest in land is vested in communities represented by chiefs/kings and/or families/clans referred to as indigenous landholding institutions. The system of landownership has been perceived as communal landholding, which does not permit individual ownership of land rights. It has been argued that such communal ownership does not incentivise individuals to invest in land-based economic activities. Thus, the traditional landownership system is viewed as an obstruction to economic growth. This chapter reports on a study carried out to test the assertion that traditional land tenure does not permit individual ownership. It is based on case studies of the two localities of Tamale and Bolgatanga in Ghana. The study shows that the landownership system is dual with both communal and individual ownership. Therefore it does not appear to constitute an impediment to economic growth as claimed in the literature.
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Notes
- 1.
In the traditional scheme of interests in land, the allodial interest or title, referred to as paramount interest, absolute interest, final interest, ultimate interest, or radical interest is the highest, beyond which there is no interest in land again. An interest in land is a bundle of land rights. The next interest after allodial interest is the usufructuary interest, also called customary freehold interest. That is the interest both members and nonmembers of the community acquire from the allodial interest holders.
- 2.
Anthropologists define a clan as a group of people who are the descendants of a common remote ancestor/ancestress (not specified) and who are bound together by common totems and other common taboos. A family is similar to a clan. With a family, however, there is a specified ancestor/ancestress. In the African context, it refers to both the nuclear and extended family.
- 3.
Ghana is divided into ten regions for political administrative purpose. Seven of the regions form the southern part of the country, whilst the rest of the three constitute the northern part (northern Ghana).
- 4.
Chiefs in the southern sector of the country in the olden days sat in state on stools. However, as time progressed, and with modernization, they started using specially designed chairs. Thus, today most chiefs use chairs, but the stool remains the symbol of the chief’s authority.
- 5.
Dagomba as a tribe has a Kingdom.
- 6.
Na means King and Ya means powerful. Ya-Na, therefore refers to a powerful King.
- 7.
Yendi is the headquarters of the Dagomba Kingdom and is located to the East of Tamale. See Exhibit 1.
- 8.
Pusiga is a town in the Upper East Region near the Ghana–Togo border.
- 9.
Karaga is one of the settlements of Dagbon.
- 10.
The Regional House of Chiefs is an association of chiefs or traditional rulers in each region.
- 11.
Where the allodial interest is vested in families, they are represented by family heads in some communities. In other communities, the family is represented by a tindana (tindamba for plural). Tindana literally means ‘landowner’.
- 12.
A tindano area refers to the jurisdiction of a tindana.
- 13.
The Deed Registry is a land sector institution where land is registered.
- 14.
The Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands is a land sector agency, and its functions include the collection of all stool and skin land revenue, the disbursement of the revenue according to a prescribed formula, and the administration and development of stool and skin land in consultation with the Lands Commission, another land agency responsible for the management of state land.
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Acknowledgments
The empirical data for this study was collected in Ghana with financial support from the Royal Institution of Surveyors (RICS) Education Trust, United Kingdom. We would like to express our appreciation to the Trust for the support.
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Abdulai, R.T., Ndekugri, I.E. (2008). Indigenous Landholding Institutions as an Impediment to Economic Use of Land: Case Studies of Tamale and Bolgatanga in Ghana. In: Simons, R.A., Malmgren, R., Small, G. (eds) Indigenous Peoples and Real Estate Valuation. Research Issues in Real Estate, vol 10. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-77938-6_2
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