Contempt on the Streets

Madness on the Streets of Adum, the CBD of Kumasi 7/4/2017 

Last week, the Delta Force of the ruling New Patriotic Party committed yet another unthinkable, despicable act. A judge had ruled to put thirteen of their members on remand for unlawfully attacking and forcibly removing a newly appointed Ashanti Regional Security Coordinator from his office. The group defied the judge's orders right in her presence, inside the court room and set all thirteen people free. I thought of it as a jail break. Disrespect for law and lawful institutions due to a political mentality of 'our time has come'. Well, the Regional Police Commander came out to apologize. The Police had downplayed the threat the Delta Force posed. Responsibility was accepted for the blip in security intelligence. 

In Parliament, a theater of degradation of trust was staged. The member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, was forced to apologize for his inability to produce credible evidence  that he had received a cash bribe from another member of Parliament. Does Parliament pay or receive bribe? Public evidence is lacking for whatever view may have on the matter. 

However, on the streets of Adum, the Central Business District of Kumasi, evidence that traffic congestion is worsening and that the existing traffic management strategy has failed is not lacking. Anyone who drives, walks or trade on the streets will give you proof that the paid parking regime in Adum is not killing traffic congestion. Rather it is giving birth to triplets of traffic congestion. Right in Adum, the Central Business District of Kumasi, people, vehicles, businesses, Trotro and Taxis fight for space right in the middle of streets, in presence of city authorities. Yet city authorities look on helpless. Traffic congestion has gone from bad to worse. 

In 2006, a private real estate company, Goldstreet, was awarded a contract to control and manage the growing traffic congestion in Adum. About 54 of the already narrow streets in Adum were then converted into parking lots with the hope to ease traffic and at the same time make money. More than ten years down the paid parking lane, there is no need for a scientific research to provide the kind of evidence our Parliament failed to get to proof bribery in the house that, the traffic congestion situation in Adum is deteriorating. Well if you still need such a proof there are, in fact, numerous of them. I cite just one. In 2014, Dr. Adams of the Civil Engineering Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and two colleagues of his, investigated the traffic situation in Adum. Guess their finding. Drivers "...park for comparatively longer periods after the introduction of the parking scheme." 

So the paid parking scheme in Adum is bearing more traffic than it is killing. In front of Prudential Plaza (former Unicorn House), for example, a narrow street meant for two vehicles is now a Lorry Station for Taxis and Trotro vehicles picking up and dropping off passengers. Unless their vehicles are full of passengers, they parking on the streets. In the process, a long queue of Trotro and Taxis are formed blocking every inch of space in their path. Another portion of the street is used as paid parking lotsby Goldstreet for which a fee of one cedi is charge per hour. So a vehicle may park on the streets for as long as the owner is willing to pay the parking fee. In the end, barely one lane  is left for vehicles coming from both ends of the street to bypass each other without hitting wares of hawkers or knocking down pedestrians walking right in the middle of the street. 

I see Police Officers, Metropolitan Task Force staff and Road Traffic Management Officers in their smart dresses in Adum everyday. I also see what I call traffic wardens of the Goldstreet Real Estate Consult collecting parking tolls. Unfortunately, I do not feel the presence of their efforts on the street of Adum. The traffic congestion is swallowing all efforts. If this is not lawlessness too the core then I do not know how to describe it than that it is complete anarchy. If the Delta Force court room action is an attack on democracy then the traffic congestion situation in Adum is a retreat to anarchy. 

If we should consider hours lost in traffic, fuel bought with money burnt by vehicle engines for going no where in Adum and its effect on the climate and lost productivity. If we consider the inconvenience driving and walking in Adum and the effect on businesses then it is time to act. It is time for cities authorities paid by the taxpayer to look for suitable parking spaces away outside Adum. It is time to abolish paid parking in Adum and ban parking in Adum altogether unless a building has its own private parking. I believe this is one of the ways of solving the congestion including dealing with on-street hawking.

If our cities authorities cannot arrest those who break traffic regulations by hawking on the street or creating a Lorry Park in the middle of a street everyday, then they must set the Delta Force free because it is a daily epidemic that is akin to breaking a jail for a remand. After all, they are all law breakers. 

Legality of land allocation papers in Ghana

The importance of land allocation papers in the land market in Kumasi is well known. But is the use of land allocation papers legal or not? What are the legal implications of using an allocation paper to allocate land or property? What legal or landed property interest is conveyed with land allocation papers? In my recently co-authored article "Legal implications of land allocation papers in land transactions in Ghana; A case study of the Kumasi traditional area" these issues are addressed. the article may be assessed via sciencedirect .  the abstract of the paper is reproduced below.

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.

Enjoy reading.

State of Otumfuo's Lease Documentation Project

In Kumasi, the custom is that when caretaker chiefs allocate land a paper which has come to be known as an allocation paper is issued to landowners as evidence of the sale. However, land allocation papers are considered incomplete unless endorsed by the Asantehene. To receive such endorsement one must start the process to convert the allocation paper into a lease. This is called the lease documentation or land registration process.

Conversion of allocation papers into leases is very important because in a recent Supreme Court of Ghana judgment in Boateng (No. 2) v Manu (No. 2) SCGLR [2008] it was held that allocation papers represent the initial process to evidence that land has been acquired by an individual or corporate body. However, an allocation paper by itself cannot represent the fact of land acquisition. Justice William Annam Atuguba has said that he knows of no law which mandatorily requires an allocation paper in the sale of land.

The position of the Supreme Court on allocation paper is premised on three main reasons. Firstly, an allocation paper does not state the nature of the acquisition, i.e. whether it is a lease, a sale, a pledge, mortgage, a gift, etc. Secondly, the duration of the acquisition is not specified on the face of the allocation paper, and lastly, allocation papers do not give details of the extent of the land acquired. For these, the Court has held that allocation papers can only show that some transaction had taken place to in which the owners had purported to give some land to an individual or corporate body but allocation papers per se cannot pass title. The landowner will thereafter proceed to have it converted in a lease which will have to be registered at the Lands Commission.

For these reasons, allocation papers are often not accepted by banks and financial houses as security for loans. The value of the building on the land though may be substantial but it remains unacceptable as security if title to that property is derived from an allocation paper. Lease documents are desired. However, to procure a lease on a piece of land, landowners must first submit their land allocation paper to the Asantehene’s Lands Secretariat for endorsement by the Asantehene. Thereafter a lease is prepared, executed and registered at the Lands Commission.

I do not advocate this line of thinking. I think allocation papers are valid land documents properly procured under customary law provides by article 11 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana. Since I am here not arguing about these points, I will not dwell much on this issue. However, it is the failure of public land administrators to recognize land allocation papers as valid land documents that why it has become important that every landowner convert his or her allocation paper procured under customary into a lease.

Due to the cost involved, the time it takes and the complex and cumbersome nature of the land registration process, most land owners are not motivated to register their land. Several efforts by government such the Land Administration Project (LAP) over the years to reduce the cost, time and complexity of land registration in Ghana have to date achieved little success. Today, it is common to find corruption at the lowest and the highest echelons of the land agencies. From desk to desk, one must pay the way to get a piece of land registered. What is even shocking is that, after such bribes, the process of land registration still moves like an injured-tortoise.

In September 2012 the Asantehene’s Lands Secretariat (ALS) went on Radio and TV inviting landowners to come and register their land. One these media platforms, land owners were assured that that the cost of registering would be cut by 70%. The period it took to register a piece of land would be reduced to three months. And the physical presence of landowners in the entire process would also be a thing of the past.

The landowning public greeted the news with a great sigh of relief. One by one, day by day, they thronged to the Forecourt of the Manhyia Palace to convert their allocation papers into leases. What happened during the last three weeks to the end of the project was unprecedented. Thousands of landowners besieged the project. They were more eager to register their title to land before the project expired. But it was expected. Ghanaians are last-minute people. They literally begged to submit land documents for registration.  As a result, the project period was extended for another three months. Despite this, the ALS became choked with several landowners craving to process their land documents for lease. At the end of the day, over 15,000 applications had been received. Pressure mounted on land officials working there. And this slowed the process further. People tried to bribe their way through the process. And it worked.

From September 2012 to March 2013, the ALS reduced drink money charges by at least 70%. Land owners were not required to go through the normal complex, cumbersome process of land registration. Over one hundred young university graduates were employed to do that. Over 15,000 applications for lease were received.

The promise to produce leases in three months could not be fulfilled. Most people then began to complain of the same old problems about delays in land registration process. What the public did not know was that behind the media dressing was a considerable number challenges the Lease Documentation Project faced. On 2 April 2013 I met a young land economy graduate at the Manhyia Palace. I had first met him when he was doing his National Service at Lands Commission. He had been recruited to assist in the project. I asked him about some of the difficulties that the project was facing and he did not hide the truth from me.

There was too much media window dressing. The public was deceived. They were made to believe that leases could be acquired in three months. Yes it could be done. But the number of applications that was received and the problems the project faced, six months is even too short a time to complete all the lease applications. As we talk now, the three months has expired. The three months extension that was given is now left with two weeks to expire. Yet not a single lease document prepared under the project has come out of the registration tunnel. Over fifteen thousand people have submitted their allocation notes and site plans for processing. Out of this, less than twenty is receiving positive attention.

There are planning, technical and human resources problems facing the project. Let us start with planning problems. There are certain areas in Kumasi where there no existing planning layouts. Article 267 (3) of the 1992 Constitution, provides that no stool land is to be sold, developed or registered unless the Lands Commission has certified that the sale or  development conforms to layout drawn up and approved by the planning authority for the area. Thus, the ALS, by law, requires the LC give such certification on individual plots to begin preparation of lease. Once Lands Commission does not grant such approval, any effort to acquire lease will hit a dead end. Unfortunately, the LC cannot certify any plot which lies in area which does not have an approved layout. This has caused the processing of many applications under the project. My investigations shows more than thirty per cent of lease applications made under the project are beset with layout problems. Leases for such plots cannot be processed.

Secondly, some land allocation papers presented by landowners were found not to be genuine. Such allocation papers had been issued by illegitimate persons. One would think that since this matter involves chiefs the chief for the areas must be made to issue a fresh and genuine one for the landowner. But the question arises at to whether the landowner is to pay the price of the land to the chief since it was not the chief who took the initial purchase price.

Thirdly, there were some landowners whose title to their land could not be traced sequentially in relation to the documents they possessed. That is there were gaps in their root of title. In such cases, the land might have changed hangs several times but there were no documents to back such transactions. This made it difficult to process such applications. Last but not the least, there were instances where there were existing transactions affecting some of the land. This meant that the land had already been sold and registered in favour of a person other than the one who sought to register land anew. These problems continue to face the project.

Despite these challenges, I think project has established one thing. Landowners would be eager to register their land if land registration would be made cheap, simple and less cumbersome. However, the current situation does not encourage people to register their land. 

To be continued....

Asantehene cuts Cost and Time of Land Registration

His Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, in his quest to promote socio-economic development of the Kumasi through land tenure security is embarking on mass land registration project. The Lease Documentation Project, according to the project website, is a pragmatic approach to formalize all land grants in the Kumasi. The project seeks to drastically cut the cost of land documentation, remove delays in the documentation process and ensure that land owners obtain valid leases  over their properties within six months.

In Kumasi, about 90% of houses are not formally registered with the Lands Commission. Owners of such properties derive their title through allocation note (For detail discussions on allocation notes read my earlier blogs Rethinking Allocation Note and What is in Allocation Note). Land registration processes are costly, cumbersome and time wasting.  

The project is expected to run for a period of six months. Land owners who take advantage of the project would have the benefit of paying a highly reduced ‘Drink Money’, land survey facilitated by the project at a reduced cost and have a lease prepared and executed within the project life provided there are no technical challenges or conflicting claims to the parcel. Where there is no approved development scheme, the project would facilitate the scheme preparation and approval at the District/Municipal/Metropolitan Assembly within which jurisdiction the land is located. The project has a stand-by adjudication body that would resolve disputes and conflicts to move the process forward. The project would involve all relevant stakeholders including public land sector agencies for effective delivery.

For information on how to participate in this project, visit the project website. Alternatively, you can contact DataEstate Ltd or email me. This is for your information only.

The History of Land Prices in Kumasi

Many are those who continue to ask me, 'is it good to invest in land in Kumasi?' I have several times tried to let such people see what i see in the land market. But most often i fail. I therefore took time to research into the history of land price in Kumasi. I hope you will get the answers you want in the land market in terms of land prices.

         In 1960, 100 feet by 100 feet land at Asaago, a town near Kumasi was worth less than ¢10. In 1974, the same land meant for residential building sold for GH¢3 at Asenua. At Esereso, at the time when land was first subdivided for residential purposes in 1985, whiles strangers paid around GH¢4, subjects of the village presented bottles of Schnapps. An acre of land at Adum, now the Central Business District and the most expensive location in Kumasi, in 1960 was worth around GH¢50. But by 1973, land prices in Adum had risen to over GH¢164. Probably, this was the highest price achieved in Kumasi during this time.

However, the period between 1990 and 1999 saw land prices rise far beyond expectations. This is due to several factors. During this period, constitutional rule had been regained. Rawlings’ military rule in Ghana had ended. The 1992 Constitution, firmly establishing the 2^nd Republic of Ghana, had been promulgated and guaranteed private ownership of property (Article 18; 1). A democratic election had been successfully held. Most Ghanaians had begun to build confidence in the economy and had started investing in land to accumulate wealth. In January 1995, with inflation hovering around 59%, land prices, like all other commodities in Ghana, was rising fast. The young generation realised that capital gains made from land could be a quick path to wealth due to the rapid increases in land prices. These, among other factors, tickled demand for land. Suddenly, everybody was buying. Land speculation became a rewarding part-time business for many. With so many people looking for land to buy, estate agency gained ascendancy without control.

The price of land sold in just a few years quadrupled in value. By 1997, Alhaji Ibrahim Baryeh reported that a 100 by 100 feet building plot at Asenua exchanged for GH¢130, far higher than the GH¢3 in 1974. Within a space of 23 years, land at Asenua had gained capital value by 4,233%. At Kyerekrom, prices range from GH¢220 to GH¢350 depending on whether the buyer was a subject of the town or a stranger. In the case of Emena, land exchanged between GH¢85 and GH¢120. At Apire, prices were between GH¢120 and GH¢350. By February 1997, the same land which sold for ¢10 in 1960 at Asaago fetched between GH¢150 and GH¢200. At Santasi, prices started from GH¢300. The decade just before the year 2011 did not see land prices fall. In fact, they rose rapidly. With the year 2000 beginning another decade in the land market, political power had been peacefully transferred from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) through a fair, transparent, and democratic election. John Agyekum Kuffour had been sworn in as the President of Ghana and had declared a ‘golden age of business’.

Like several other markets, the land market responded positively. Confidence in the Ghanaian economy had deepened. Demand for land rose, and in tandem with prices. By 2004, land prices in Kumasi had risen from previous highs to higher levels. Prices ranged from GH¢3,000 to as high as GH¢50,000 for a standard 100 feet by 100 feet plot. A standard plot at neighbourhoods such as Asokwa, in 2003, was sold around GH¢60,000. By 2006, land prices in the city ranged from GH¢200,000 to GH¢300,000 per acre which were mainly leasehold interest A 100 feet by 100 feet land which exchanged at Asaago for GH¢150 in 1997, was now priced over GH¢5,500, representing about 3,567% capital gains over 13 years. Half of an acre building plot at Atasomanso which sold for GH¢3,000 per plot in 1997 rose to over GH¢90,000 by the end of 2010 (i.e. 2,233% in capital gains in 13 years). Between 2000 and 2010, like the decade before it, land prices seldom dropped. At Apire, a standard building plot from 1990 to 1993 was sold between GH¢300 and GH¢400. By 2003, prices had risen to nearly GH¢3,000. Land prices in the neighbourhood did not stop rising. It skyrocketed to over GH¢7,000 in 2010.

In recent times, price of undeveloped land has been rising fast. The picture below charts prices of selected locations in Kumasi. Analysis of land prices collected from the field presents interesting statistical results. The maximum land price per acre of GH¢1,869,200 was achieved at Adum, the Central Business District of Kumasi. This means that Adum is the most expensive location in Kumasi. The minimum price of Gh8,000 per acre was recorded at Zongo Extension. However, the most frequent price (mode) at which an acre of land was bought was Gh40,000. This translates into GH¢10,000 for a standard plot. And yet the mean price of land per acre recorded was around GH¢141,300. What this means is that with GH¢35,300, a standard plot at a good location can be acquired. In all, prices ranged from as low as GH8,000 to as high as GH¢1,869,200 per acre. 

            What the history and current land prices in Kumasi tell us is that an investment in land is by far the best option. Investment in land is seldom affected by inflation. Land prices seldom fall. Capital gains from land are astonishing. Even capital gains realised on the Ghana Stock market in a year on all the stocks listed on the GSE do not often come close. In other regions of Ghana where pressure of land is relatively low, one is still better of investing in land. for example, between 2008 and 2009, land prices increased by 66.7% in the Wa Municipality in the Upper West Region of Ghana. In the Eastern Region of Ghana, between 1992 and 2003, land prices recorded over 235% increase. 

Land Acquisition In Kumasi - A New Light

Late 2011, a ‘gargantuan’ crime hit the Asantehene’s Lands Secretariat. It was reported that the office was bridled with bribery and corruption. The case caused the then Liaison Officer’s job. Several officers also lost their job, as a result. For more than a month, the Asantehene’s Lands Office remained closed.

In or around November 2011, when the office was opened to the public a new administration had be instituted, reforms had taken place and land acquisition and registration processes was to be simplified.

Before January 2012, a land owner wishing to register his land was only required to present allocation note and site plans to the Asantehene’s Lands Secretariat for processing. The Secretariat then enquired from the Lands Commission whether the plot was free and could be registered in the current allottee’s name. This attracted a small fee. When a favourable response was received, the land owner had to pay drink money, and would Asantehene endorsed the allocation note and it was then released to the Lands Commission to prepare the lease document for execution by the proposed lessee, the caretaker chief, Asantehene. The lease document had to be sent from the Lands Commission to the Asantehene’s Lands Secretariat for the execution to take place. Then the document would be returned to the Lands Commission for the transactions to be recorded finally.  Experts said the process involved over hundred steps in addition to the cost.

This process existed up to December 2011. Starting January 2012, to register land in Kumasi one must first obtain a search report on the land from the Lands Commission. The search report is to show that the land can be registered and that it has not been registered in anybody’s name. You must add the search report to your allocation note, Cadastre plan and five passport size photograph and present them to the Asantehene’s Lands Secretariat at the Manhyia Palace. The Secretariat would check the validity of your submitted documents. Drink money (1/3 of land valued would be assessed. This and other fees and charges must be paid. The Lease or indenture would be prepared for execution. After execution, the document is sent to the Lands Commission for final registration.

The process of stool land acquisition and registration may be reduced into seven simple steps.

 1.       Negotiate and pay for land,

2.       Secure allocation note and cadastre (site) plans,

3.       Conduct a search at the Lands Commission over the Land,

4.       Submit the allocation note, cadastre (site) plans and five (5) passport pictures to the Asantehene’s Lands Office,

5.       Pay Drink Money & other fees & charges

6.       Lease document is prepared and executed

7.       Executed document is released to Lands Commission for plotting and registration registration.

In my opinion, this was by far the simplest process ever drawn up for land acquisition and registration in Kumasi. However, there still remains some unloosed knots. I, therefore, attempt a critique of the new process in place. To do the best your views, questions and contributions will count. What are the areas you wish that I discuss?

Rethinking Allocation Note

In April, 2011 I blog to the fact that Allocation Note is an introductory letter for land buyers. I must say, that is a historical meaning. The idea that allocation note is a mere letter introducing land buyers to the Asantehene or other relevant Paramount chief so that proper land documents would be prepared for them does not often go down well with most people who own land in Kumasi.

          In practice, it comes as a surprise. In recent times, most land buyers have a developed a different but casual understanding of the meaning and legal implication of allocation notes.They think that allocation note is as good as a registered lease document or any other valid land document. They think that land registration is a matter of choice, not a need. And they also think that by keeping allocation notes in their homes, they are doing the right thing to secure their ownership of land. This thinking forms the basis of new ideas that are been sowed to expand the meaning and legal implications of allocation notes. When this is idea is accepted by land administrators,  allocation note holders could actually walk to the Lands Commission and deposit copies of their allocation notes, whiles keeping the original and this may constitute land registration. 

           I must say that, even before this idea gathers enough support from land experts and public land administrators, some financial institutions have welcomed it. They now take allocation notes as valid land document to secure loans. And such institutions are reaping immense benefits.

            Looking at the high cost and the long time it takes to register land and procure a lease in Kumasi, accepting allocation note as a valid land document that may be registered can only be said to be ingenious. In my opinion expanding the meaning and legal implications of allocation note to include the ‘casual’ meaning than letting it remain a mere letter meant to introduce land buyers to the Asantehene is crucial in protecting right to land and creating wealth in the land market. Thousands of allocation notes are being given out by chiefs everyday. Consequently, almost every land owner have, knows or has heard of allocation note. But let us ask ourselves. How many of the millions of allocation notes issued by chiefs daily have successfully been converted into leases? Since 1943, when the first allocation note was issued, millions of such documents have  been given out to land owners. However, less than six thousand of such allocation notes till now have been or is being converted into leases.

             Clearly, the wheels of converting allocation notes into leases grind slowly. It takes too long. And the cost is too much. That is why the idea of expanding the meaning and legal implication of allocation note is clearly clever, to me. I don't know how you see it.