Judiciary asked not to compound land cases

Accra, Feb 17, GNA - The Judiciary have been asked to be conscious of the judgement they deliver in cases involving land so as not to compound the problems of land administration in the country. Mrs. Rebecca Sittie, Acting Chief Registrar of Land Titles, said the judiciary were in a unique position to influence the direction of the nation's land administration system and could prevent conflicts when verdicts could stand the test of time.

She was speaking on the topic: "Implication of Judicial Intervention in Land Administration in Ghana," at a forum organised by Ghana Institutions of Surveyors as part of its annual week celebration. Mrs Sittie said some judicial decisions turned to weaken customary land control and had given rise to mass invasion of public land.

She said because of multiple ownership of some lands, court cases turned to drag on for several years as each individual of the family resort to litigation.

In this direction, she asked customary landowners to document and gazette their succession line so as to avoid the problem of multiple ownerships.

Mr. David Kwesi Dautey, Deputy Chief Administrator of Stool Lands, said under the Land Administration Project, customary land management would be improved to ensure that custodians administer such lands in fair, efficient, accountable and transparent manner.

Allocation and transaction procedures to limit the incidences in which a parcel of land was sold to multiple buyers would also have to be developed

Mr. Dautey said through the Customary Land Secretariat, which was being piloted in five areas of the country, there would be training programmes for the traditional authorities to prepare them adequately in playing their roles in their communities.