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Land tenure in the rural northern regions of Ghana In Ghana’s rural northern regions there is a complex system of communally owned land, with many local variations. Land tenure is based on the community’s social organization, and the basic unit of ownership is the family or clan. In most communities the chief is neither owner nor custodian of the land. Control over land ownership is in the hands of the land priest, variously called the Tindana, Tigatu or Totem (the land priest is traditionally the community’s spiritual leader). He distributes land to members of the group, mediates land disputes and acts as a link between the community and the spirits of their ancestors, believed to dwell in ancestral groves controlled by him. Membership in the community guarantees access to natural resources such as ponds, groves and open lands, considered part of the common heritage. Generally, men have the exclusive right to own land. Women may not acquire rights to land. They have access to land only through the male members of their family. Source: IFAD |
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