President John Agyekum Kufuor on Monday said a major challenge facing the government was how to convince chiefs, the people and other stakeholders to accept a uniform land tenure system.
He said the challenge was on how such uniformity would protect the rights of ownership and lending of lands to modern business practices in the country. President Kufuor said this at the launch of the Foundation for Building the Capital of the Poor (FBCP), a programme initiated by the government and devised to assist in mobilising the assets held by the poor to facilitate their economic development.
The Foundation would also establish a regional training institute in Accra for the benefit of other African countries interested in property reform programmes. It is a non-profit making company, which was developed jointly through the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and the Institute for Liberty and Democracy (ILD) based in Peru and supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The Foundation would be governed by a seven-member Board of Directors with representatives from the Ministries of Lands and Forestry, Local Government and Rural Development and Justice.
President Kufuor said in most parts of the country, chiefs are the custodians and trustees of land for their people and the customs and practices of land law and usage vary from traditional area to another around the country. He said the National House of Chiefs, the embodiment of the country's customs and traditions was the best institution to assist the nation to bring about the uniformity in land tenure system for the proper growth of the economy.
He said " Fortunately, the institution of chieftaincy is attracting many enlightened people on whom we can count to take on the challenge of educating the people. There is nothing to fear from harmonising and modernising land law and usage around the country".
President Kufuor stressed the need for a review of some of the social, political, economic ideas and the leadership skills that had been deployed in governance to pull the country out of the debilitating poverty since independence 45 years ago. He said the Foundation, which would bring into the formal economic sector all lands and business assets through proper legal registration should also make land bankable property and provide credit access to title-holders.
The UNDP Resident Representative in Ghana, Mr Albert Salia Fawundu said launching of the Foundation had given a re-birth to Ghana's independence to make the poor Ghanaian contribute to wealth creation. He explained that UNDP supported the Foundation as a facilitator and also to serve as a catalyst for wealth creation in Ghana. The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo said government is determined to continue with the path of democratic consolidation for Ghana to become a nation governed by the rule of law and respect for human rights.
He said with the hard work, dynamism and enterprise of the Ghanaian, given the right, conducive atmosphere and the strong support, the state could exploit successfully and effectively the market economy to raise the living standards of the broad masses. The Minister of Justice said "to do this, we must stimulate indigenous investment and attract foreign investment into the country to assist in achieving the structural transformation of the national economy. We must also promote a sane legal environment to allow the market to flourish".
