CHAPTER ONE – INTRODUCTION   Introduction

Chapter one is an introductory section of the research. It presents the design of the study which entails the background of research, problem statement, objectives of the research, research questions, implication of the research, scope of the research, and the outline of the research.

  Background of Research

Land administration in Ghana, like many other African countries, is fraught with many challenges. From access to acquisitions and then to the registration, ownership of land is a challenge to both individuals, corporate entities and to governments on the African continent. This challenge seemingly hinders development right from the basic level at which people seek access to land for human settlement, to the level at which land is required to develop business ventures. Governments may also require land to undertake various forms of development in the interest of the general public and this is also hindered sometimes by not gaining rightful ownership of such parcels of land. It is therefore crucial that the processes that enables individuals, businesses whether small or big and the government to gain rightful ownership to land for the various developmental purposes to be properly stipulated and made to work.

Land titling according to Wikipedia is where an individual or a family is given property rights to a piece(s) of land which they formerly occupied informally. In effect the process of land titling gives legitimacy to entities seeking to be acknowledged as true owners of a piece of land. Advocates of this approach believe the process capacitates successful applicants of this form of land title to benefit from a number of benefits including the use of such documents as collateral etc.

Though the ownership of a land title or a title deed does not give the ultimate right in all cases around the world, it is a crucial step to giving some respite and assurance to developers. In some cases, though individuals and families have title documents on their estates or lands, it has not stopped governments from forcefully acquiring these lands for the interest of the general public. Such instances and examples have given critics of these forms of land ownership processes the basis to question the need to go through the hassle of acquiring these land ownership documents. In developing economies such as Ghana where land access and ownership is more often than not, an area inundated with litigations, the possession of any of the two documents gives a lot of protection. It is therefore not surprising that the Lands Commission offices across the country seem to be always flooded with applicants for the land title and deed certificates.

The challenges associated with land title has led to individuals and entities loosing investments because they could not prove true ownership in the events of litigations (Mishra, 2018). In a study of the Uttah Pradesh, one of the most populous states in India, it was discovered that investment in physical projects have been lost due to the stalling of such projects as a result of land litigations. It is feared that this difficulty in land administration in Ghana also is causing the state to loose valuable investments as investors both locally and on the international front fear losing their money if they invest in land and estates. Efforts have been made by successive governments to address the challenges associated with land ownership registrations across the country.

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