The National House Chiefs (NHC) in collaboration with the Law Reform Commission has researched into customary law on land and family in twenty traditional areas aimed at evolving a unified system of rules of customary law in the country.
This project, Ascertainment and Codification of Customary Law Project (ACCLP) is being funded by the German Development Cooperation (GTZ).
Findings from Kaleo and Nandom Traditional Areas in the Upper West
Region which were sampled during the pilot study were validated at a two-day workshop at Wa for Paramount Chiefs and land owners in the region.
Mrs. Sheila Minkah-Premo, a Resource Person, in a presentation, said legal certainty was crucial for peace and stability in the country.
She said where customary lands covered about 60 to 80 per cent of the territory many conflicts could arise over land ownership, utilization and
management as well as the scope of customary land rights leading to feuds between families and clans.
She said the codification of customary law would contribute directly to private sector development, agriculture and industrial enterprise and also support the decentralization process and land use planning for district development.
Ascertained and codified customary land titles, she noted would provide a strong foundation for improved extra-judicial, pre-trial and conflict resolution and reduce the case load in the judicial system.
Mr. Thomas Tagoe, National Research Coordinator of the project, said Customary laws for the pilot areas were being ascertained, validated and codified and lessons learnt documented for future use.
In the second phase, he said, additional variations of customary laws from about 30 traditional areas in the ten regions would be collected on land and family law while the third phase would be for validation, codification, consultation and harmonization.
Dr. Seidu Danaa, Head of Research at the Chieftaincy Secretariat, said twelve Legislative Instruments (LIs) emanating from the Ministry of Culture and Chieftaincy were studied by the Attorney-General�s Department.
He expressed the hope that the numerous conflicts with regard to land ownership, succession to stools and skins would minimise when the LIs are approved by Parliament.