The Integration of Multiple Layers of Land Ownership, Property Titles and Rights of the Ashanti People in Ghana

This paper presents the impacts, feasibility and limitations of rolling out large-scale land titling programmes in West Africa. Using the Ashanti as a case study, this paper explores the possible intended and unintended impacts of de Soto's recommendations for the Ashanti people. It discusses the merits and pitfalls of an "end-state" that includes an integrated land registration system and access to formal finance. The process by which this "end-state" is reached is perhaps the crucial question which needs to be addressed. The complex dynamics of customary land tenure are discussed to assess the current attempts to administer land in Ghana. Overall, the paper investigates the legal and social implications of a "new formality" before considering the practical challenges of applying these ideas. Three key recommendations are proposed based on a theoretical and contextual analysis to assess the options that can create or facilitate a new formality compatible with the international capitalist economy. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.