All land related policies, laws and regulations are being reviewed with the view of formulating appropriate policies that would facilitate Ghana Government’s objectives for the long-term Land Administration Programme and eliminate from the statute books those that are redundant, obsolete and inconsistent with new policy directions.

The legal and policy reform processes that are being undertaken under LAP are in two segments which are being pursued simultaneously. The first segment relates to the institutional arrangements for land administration. The crust of this segment is a restructuring of the public sector institutions for land management in the country, under one umbrella namely a reorganised Lands Commission. The second segment has to do with the substantive legal provisions dealing with land tenure, land management, surveying and mapping as well as land use planning.

The review also seeks to modify, integrate and/or streamline the fundamental laws for land administration in the country including those on compulsory acquisition of land by government. The process further includes harmonisation of customary and statutory land laws.

This would involve re-examining of policies in the light of the legal review being conducted and drafting of new land policies and legislation required for the legal and institutional reforms under LAP.

Detailed review that needs to be done if the broad objectives of the government and those of LAP are to be met includes the following:

• Preparing a prioritized list of land laws and judicial decisions for review;
• Developing new laws where necessary legislation is lacking;
• Resolving conflict and overlaps, and redrafting laws so that they are consistent with the Constitution and in harmony with customary practice;
• Recommending legal and policy changes to the Minister, MLFM and the Attorney General;
• Obtaining Cabinet approval for revised and new policies and legislation.

The review work is being undertaken by a team of consulting lawyers drawn from the Law Reform Commission and the Statute Review Committee; and led by the National Legal Adviser/Consultant of LAP under the overall supervision of the Sector Minister.


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