Customary Land Rents Administration in Ghana: Emerging Discourse on Family Lands in the Upper West Region

Abstract

In Ghana, the constitution recognises stool land revenues as a principal source of funding local economic development. However, there has been a lacuna on the collection and disbursement of family land revenues. The study examines ground rent collection and disbursement on family land, revenue losses and the capacity of family landowners to assess and collect ground rents. The analyses show ground rent collection is for infrastructure development and the sharing formula is similar to the Constitutional formula. Also, ground rent losses is significant and family landowners do not have the human and technical capacity to assess ground rents on their own lands.