Accra, Aug. 24, GNA - Mr Henry Ford Kamel, Deputy Minister of Land and Natural Resources, on Monday said strengthening the Customary Land Secretariat (CLS) was vital to proper land administration in the country.

He said the adhoc measures adopted in handling land issues in the past triggered many land related disputes as a result of improper documentation of land. "Ownership of land is not a mere occupation of the land but proper documentation," he said at the National Lesson-Learning workshop for the CLS at Dodowa in Accra.

Participants were mostly traditional rulers drawn across the country to discuss the lessons and the success stories of the CSLs and to set the agenda for future customary land administration in Ghana. The workshop is part of the Land Administration Project (LAP) which started in October 2003, following the adoption of the National Land Policy in 1999 funded by the Government of Ghana and six other development partners. It would officially end by August 31. Mr Ford said the programme was to make land administration systems more efficient and effective and promote security of tenure. One major component of the project, he said, was the art of strengthening the customary land administration through the establishment of the CLS as decentralized land administration units owned by the land owning communities.

"The project also aimed at minimizing land related conflicts and litigation and to ensure that land ownership and use contribute to poverty reduction," he said.

He said the CLS, within this short period of its inception, was able to settle peacefully 771 disputes countrywide through the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).

Mr Ford said unlike the court system that was adversary in nature, the ADR settled disputes and brought the feuding parties together. He said part of the project was a new Land Commission Act which was passed to transform agencies such as the Land Commission, Survey Department, Land Valuation Board and Land Title Registry into Lands Commission.

He said the Lands Commission had branches in all the ten regions meant for effective land administration.

Mr Ford said currently, there were 38 CLSs in the country and that before the commencement of LAP, there were only three existing CLSs which were Asantehene's Secretariat in Kumasi, Okyehene's Secretariat at Kyebi and Gbawe Family Land Secretariat in Accra. He said activities carried on by the government to improve the CLSs included strengthening the ADR baseline survey and application of land cases by the Land Management Committee, enumeration of all properties in the CLS catchments areas and the training office of the Administrator of Stool Lands.

Dr Odame Larbi, Project Director of LAP, said LAP initially adopted a method called "Supply led approach," under which the government was made the sole initiator and financier of the project. He said this method generated problems including the reluctance of communities under the pretext that government was making attempts to de-possess them of their lands.

Dr Larbi said government adopted another method he called "Demand driven approach," where communities were to make demand for the establishment of the CLS in their communities which were jointly financed by the people and the government leading to the fast expansion of the CSLs from 10 to 38.

He said as the project was about to fold up, the CLSs were adequately prepared to use monies generated from their services to fund themselves. 24 Aug 09