A Justice of Ghana’s Court of Appeal, Alexander Osei-Tutu, has raised serious concerns about the country’s land administration system, revealing that more than 98 percent of land nationwide cannot currently be registered under the land title system.
Speaking on the growing challenges surrounding land ownership and disputes, Justice Osei-Tutu explained that Ghana’s land title registration framework only applies to areas officially designated as registration districts by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources. Outside these limited zones, land transactions are governed by deeds registration, a system he described as weak, unreliable, and vulnerable to abuse.
According to him, land title registration offers a state-backed and indefeasible guarantee of ownership, unlike deeds registration, which merely records documents without confirming true ownership. This loophole, he said, has allowed multiple individuals to register competing claims over the same parcel of land, fuelling protracted legal battles and community conflicts.
A report by Graphic Online dated January 20, 2026, cited Justice Osei-Tutu as stating that only the Greater Accra Region, parts of Kumasi, and Kasoa and its surrounding areas have been declared registration districts since the introduction of the system over four decades ago. He noted that despite the passage of the Land Title Registration Law in 1986 and its incorporation into the Land Act of 2020, more than 13 regions remain excluded from the title registration regime.
To illustrate the scale of the problem, Justice Osei-Tutu provided land size comparisons. Greater Accra covers about 3,245 square kilometres, accounting for roughly 1.4 percent of Ghana’s total land area. Parts of Kumasi under the registration system cover about 309 square kilometres, while Kasoa and its environs span just 56.7 square kilometres. Combined, these areas represent less than two percent of the country’s total land mass.
This means that over 98 percent of Ghana’s land lies outside the protection of title registration, a situation the judge warned continues to undermine land security, investor confidence, and social stability.
Justice Osei-Tutu called for urgent reforms, including the nationwide expansion of registration districts, improved access to land registration services, and sustained public education on land ownership processes. He stressed that without decisive action, land disputes would continue to overwhelm the courts and threaten orderly development across the country.
