10. Land Conflicts in Southern Ghana: A Reflection of Multiple Ownerships of Land and Usufruct Rights to Land Use

Literature is exhaustive on the importance of land as vital ‘commodity’ and resource, however there is dearth of studies on the challenges of multiple ownerships of land and the usufruct rights to land use in Ghana. This chapter reveals the disconnection between pervasive commodification, monetization and commercialization of land and their implications for multiple ownerships of land and the usufruct rights to land use in Ghana. The chapter relies on field study, involving interactions with policy-makers, traditional authorities and stakeholders involved with land administration to establish a linkage between commodification, monetization, commercialization and multiple ownerships of land. It critically analyses the associated protracted land disputes that have bedevilled southern Ghana. This chapter reveals that commodification, monetization and commercialization of land, though far from exclusion, engenders land conflicts in Southern Ghana. Among others, the chapter recommends the establishment of ‘Land Bank’ and ‘Land Banking’ as policy option to deregulate land sector as parts of the measures to curtail land conflicts in Southern Ghana.