Abstract
This
paper studies the legal effects of land allocation papers in today's
land administration system by focusing on stool lands in Kumasi. Using
key informant interviews and review of relevant land legislations, court
proceedings and seminar papers, we found out that, land allocation
papers in their current form and substance are incapable of conveying
title to purported grantees, but may only serve as evidence that an
individual or corporate body has purportedly acquired land. The
allocation paper is only a step towards acquiring full legal rights over
land under customary tenure. This study recommends that grantees of
stool lands should make every effort towards completing the other
legally required processes such as formalisation and registration of the
transaction at the Lands Commission for valid legal title. It is
further recommended that preparation of allocation papers by chiefs
should be enhanced by incorporating terms of the grant, identities of
the transaction parties, consideration and proper description of the
land. These enhancements will facilitate the formalisation and
registration process, and potentially reduce the cost and time of
registering land in Ghana. Particularly, it will challenge state
institutions and land administrators to introduce stringent measures or
security features that would make land title registrations using
allocation papers legally binding.
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