By Ama A. Amankwah Baafi & Megan Russell (Published 7/11)
A senior fellow at the Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana has said there is need for a credible and plausible agenda that will effectively resolve contemporary land related issues in Ghana.
As a proposal, Dr. George Botchie has asked for support for the ongoing Land Administration Project (LAP), which seeks to address teething problems associated with land.
He spoke on the topic of “The Land Question and Development” at the 13th Ghana Speaks Lecture Series in Accra under the auspices of the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) in collaboration with Joy FM. Dr. Botchie noted that land has become valuable, attracting attention from all and sundry such that one needs to exercise some caution to be able to address the issue properly.
He has also called for what he termed ‘green investment banking,’ where development banks should institutionalize the impact the loan application has on land and consider its value adding initiative.
“Make good investments on bank loans but not at the expense of the land. Don’t kill the hen that lays the golden eggs. Just like the African Development Bank has adopted, our banks should not just invest hugely in agric but must factor in environmental degradation cost.”
“Promote positive environmental externalities: prevention of soil erosion, stabilization of water flow. Vigorous positive environmental externalities must be internalized in land based investment in Ghana to enhance land development and development as a whole.”
According to him, there is a close interaction between land and development that can produce what we need and so it is necessary to produce a kind of thinking around it. Included in his lecture was his own definition of development as a “continuous process of change and transformation towards a desirable state in society.” This process is what must occur in Ghana in order to continuously adapt to meet the growing demands for food, agricultural based industry, raw materials, timer, mining, and urban land use.
“Most people are often concerned about the benefits that come with land but the cost that comes with it is negative externalities….that affect mainly vulnerable groups like the poor, women and children and generations unborn forgetting they need something to sustain them to live normal lives.”
Speaking particularly on agriculture, he said anyone who is engaged in any enterprise that is linked to agriculture benefits so much, but hardly do they think about the cost of these investments on the land.
“When we get our land, timber and foreign exchange do we know the impact? When we talk about mining the least said the better. The negatives far out way the benefits”.
Dr. Botchie recalled that 60% of environmental degradation cost to the country around 1988 was due to agriculture. Also, he said during the era of Economic Reform Programmes (ERPs) the tempo of forest exploitation was a lot and that timber exploitation at the time imposed much cost on the economy.
He said the Mineral Act empowers the state to own the mineral underground which gives it power to in turn grant permits / concessions to mining companies to do their own thing whereas the surface land belongs to the land owner.
Subsequently, such companies just enter without warning; entry into somebody’s property is not their concern. “Highlighting the benefits of mining to the economy is necessary but not sufficient. Mine your mineral, yes, but don’t pass on the cost to us in the name of development.”
Touching on urban land use, he mentioned how some challenges, including population growth and high demand, have raised land values and also lead to consequences such as flooding, chaotic waste disposal, liquid waste disposal and land degradation.
Principally, he said institutional, constitutional and legislative constraints have opened the door for insecurity of tenure, conflicts, costly litigation, delays, multiple sales and indiscipline in land markets.
Organizers said the Ghana Speaks Lectures was initiated in 2007 to promote interaction between ministries, departments and agencies, traditional institutions, the academia, development partners, the media, private sector and civil society to bring about needed reforms in the political and social arena of national achievement.
Former UN Secretary-General Mr. Kofi Annan has warned that land acquired in 2009 in Africa amounts to 60 million hectares, the size of France, and could have dire consequences.
Despite the importance of land as an important resource that serves many purposes, its management leaves a lot to be desired. Extensive urbanization and encroachment of land have led to poorly planned housing settlements prone to floods.
The effects of improper land use reflect the nature of externalities whereby one’s own use of land affects other users including potential users such as future generations.
The Executive Director of IDEG, Dr. Emmanuel Akwetey explained the imperative for the theme for the lecture stems from the fact that foreign interest in Ghana’s land is great.
“Land administration and land management are rather weak in the country. Issues of land could protract and never be resolved and people have to do it their own way. I wonder what will happen with the onset of the oil production.”
He added it is such topical issues that Ghana Speaks wants to explore and bring people from everywhere together to learn, deliberate and chart the way forward.