Judges are instructed to expedite land matters in order to promote development

As part of initiatives to boost development and economic growth, judges in Ghana have been urged to expedite the hearing of land litigations.

When land lawsuits go on for a long time, it does not provide a favorable signal to potential investors, according to Mr. Kaaka Dello-Ziem, Dean of the Faculty of Law and Business at Laweh University College.

The Chief Justice, Mr. Kaaka Dello-Ziem, expressed his concerns about the slow progress of land cases in the nation in an interview with 3news.com on the sidelines of a three-day workshop on real estate law and management in Ghana that was organized by the Faculty of Law and Business, Laweh University College, in Accra.

“I have to be honest with you; the Chief Justice is currently much more concerned about it in terms of expediting cases involving land.

“Land is a potential business enterprise; once you own a property on it, it may be used for a variety of things, such as to shelter a family, to rent out, to conduct business, or for other things that would improve a person’s quality of life. Long court proceedings are therefore something of a problem. One thing that judges in this nation would have to consider is that.

“Of course, I must commend the Chief Justice so far for his able initiative to ensure that there is fast track in dealing with land litigations. I will recommend that judges should speed up with dealing with land and litigated cases to ensure they contribute to the faster accelerated development of this country.”

Mr Kaaka Dello-Ziem further explained the rationale for the workshop.

He said it was it provide the right legal knowledge in the real estate sector of the economy.

“Since I assumed office as the Dean of Faculty of Law and Business, I have seen a lot, having studied through Law School, being in academia, I have observed a lot of challenges in the real estate industry which affect both the purchasers or people acquiring either land or property and the sellers as well as their agents.

“Why is this challenge so prevalent? It is soo prevalent due to the lack of legal framework which is making the real estate industry having some kind of challenge in its development. But I must assure you the real estate industry is one of the biggest industries that is creating jobs for Ghanaians yet, it is the area that has a lot of chunk of litigations at the courts.

“It doesn’t bring the faster development that Ghanaians need. If a land is being litigated for so many years or a property is under litigation for so many years then it sort of stuck development and it denies the potential buyer or owners of enjoying their properties for commercial benefits.

“As a result, the only way we can resolve the issue is giving the people the needed or the desired knowledge by educating them with the legal framework.”

For his part, a Lecturer at the Ghana School of Law, Dr Isaac Annan has asked the Lands Commission to set up a Customary Land Secretariat that will be responsible for explaining to prospective buyers which lands are available for sale and which ones are not.

In his view, this will be one of the effective ways of dealing with the issue of land litigations in the country.

He said “If you go to Customary Land Secretariat, it is critical that you will be able to know who really owns the land. What I will advise is that the Lands Commission must expedite action in making sure that the Customary Land Secretariat is established.

“So that when people now want to go and buy lands, they don’t just meet people on the street but they will go to an official place like Customary Land Secretariat and deal with them according to the law.”