THE WHITE VOLTA SUB-BASIN - Sustainable Irrigation Development in the White Volta Sub-Basin - page 28

law as institutions responsible for land management (Birner et al., 2005). 1
There is mutual respect between the traditional authorities and the
government institutions concerning the roles of both institutions. There is
also effective collaboration between both institutions concerning land
management. Traditional authorities consult government institutions for
planning of their land and legal documentation of land transactions.
The state's land tenure system distinguishes ‚stool lands‛ and ‚public lands‛
(Act 27; Act 125). ‚Stool lands‛ represent lands belonging to stools, skins
and families. Chiefs represent stools (southern Ghana) and skins (northern
Ghana). ‚Public lands‛ in Ghana fall into two main categories: land which
has been compulsorily acquired for a public purpose or in the public interest
under the State Lands Act, 1962 (Act 125) or other relevant statute; and
land which has been vested in the President, in trust for a landholding
community under the Administration of Lands Act, 1962 (Act 123).
Currently all vested and public lands are administered by the Lands
Commission at the national level along with 10 regional Lands Commissions
and their secretariats, as provided in the 1992 Constitution and in the Lands
Commission Act 1994 (Act 483).
The state's land tenure system contrasts with customary practice. To the
northern tribes land is a sacred trust of the ancestors, whose labour won it
and preserved it for the use of their descendants; it belongs to them and the
general belief is that to sell land is a sacrilege. The local customary authority
overlooking land issues in Northern Ghana is the tendana , the traditional
earth priest. Local farmers have ‚family land‛: while they do not own this
land in a legal way and cannot sell it, they do have secure usufruct rights to
this land, which can be inherited within the family (Birner et al., 2005).
The village chief or the tendana is in-charge of administrating the land.
According to traditional tenure rights, land is only allocated to the farm
households. The usufruct rights can be passed on to the descendants so that
land tenure is secure as long as the land is cropped. When the land is left
fallow the tendana can redistribute it. There is no fixed rent paid to the chief
or to the tendana . A part of the harvest is given to them in recognition of
their authority. As the household is not the owner of the land, they cannot
sell it. Land transactions are limited to leasing; however the leasing of land is
1 The Town and Country Planning Offices of the District Assemblies are involved in
land administration, too, but their activities, so far, are mostly limited to urban
planning.