Wa, June 21, GNA - Mr. Bernard Guri, Executive Director of Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organisational Development (CIKOD), a non-governmental organisation, has appealed to chiefs in the Upper West Region to develop traditional strategies for land demarcation, documentation and management to meet the interest of all stakeholders. He said until 1992 all lands in the Upper West, Upper East and Northern regions were under the control of government. Mr. Guri said this at a workshop on "The future of the Chieftaincy Institution in Ghana" held in Wa. It was on the theme: "Chiefly Peer Review Mechanism". He said there was the need for chiefs in the region to take proactive steps on land demarcation and tenure issues to curtail any unrest should there any discovery on the land.

Mr. Guri, who quoted an Australian Gold Mining Company sources, said gold deposits have been found in commercial quantities stretching from Wa to Hamile in the Upper West Region and expressed the fear that because of the lack of proper demarcation of land boundaries disputes would emerge when mining begins. He appealed to the chiefs to be wary of the current rush for large tracts of land for the planting of crops for bio fuel in the face of the world fuel crisis. He said such a rush was likely to cause disputes between landowners as well as exploitation of uninformed landowners and communities by commercial companies.

Mr. Guri appealed to the chiefs to take steps to protect the interests of the people in their traditional areas by educating them and leading them to advocate for adequate compensation as well as ensure that commercial companies coming into the region comply with the necessary social responsibility requirements. "Remember that land is the soul of our people and if we do not do something today to protect it, posterity will never forgive us", he said. The CIKOD and the Upper West Regional House of Chiefs organised the forum for its members with sponsorship from Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung to evaluate the quality of leadership to ensure that the leaders meet the requirements of the people they serve.