ADMINISTRATION OF LANDS ACT - 1962, (ACT 123)
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The President may direct the institution or defence of, or intervention in, any proceedings relating to any Stool land in the name of the Republic, on behalf, and to the exclusion, of any Stool concerned, and may compromise or settle any such proceedings.
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(1) A question arising under this Act as to whether any lands are in a particular traditional area shall be referred to the Minister who shall, after consulting the Traditional Council, determine the question for the purposes of this Act.
(2) Omitted.
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(1) The President may at any time require a Stool to declare his interest in any land and the Stool shall, within three months of being notified in writing of such requirement, send full particulars thereof to the Minister.
(2) In the event of any failure to declare an interest in any land within the period prescribed by subsection (1) of this section or of any question arising as to the existence or extent of any interest of the Stool in any land, the Minister may determine the existence or extent of any interest of the Stool in the land.
(3) Omitted.
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(1) The President may, subject to the provisions of this Act, grant to any person owing allegiance to the Asantehene one lease, at a nominal rent of one shilling per annum, of one vacant plot of land for residential purposes only, in any area within the boundaries of the Kumasi town lands described in the Schedule to this Act, and comprising land held in trust for the Golden Stool and the Kumasi traditional area. Any such plot, including a plot granted under an enactment repealed by this Act, is called a "free plot".
(2) The lessee may, with the previous consent in writing of the Minister, assign his free plot to any other person owing such allegiance but shall not, except as provided in subsection (3) of this section assign it to any other person.
(3) The lessee may, with the previous consent in writing of the Minister, mortgage or sub-let his free plot to any person.
(4) The lessee shall not assign or mortgage a part only of his free plot.
(5) Any assignment, transfer, sub-letting or mortgage made in contravention of subsections (2), (3) or (4) of this section shall be void.
(6) Any contravention of this section by the holder of a free plot or any unauthorised dealing with the same shall entail its forfeiture, and thereupon the holder's right to the plot may be determined by the Minister by a notice in writing.
(7) The number of free plots held under the provisions of this section shall not exceed ten per centum of the plots available in any approved lay-out.
(8) For the purposes of this Act, a person shall be regarded as owing allegiance to the Asantehene if he owes such allegiance by customary law, either directly or through the Chief of one of the Kumasi clans, including a Divisional Chief of Ashanti and a Kumasi Subordinate Stool, but not any person serving or owing allegiance to such Divisional Chief.
(9) A certificate under the hand of the Asantehene or of some person nominated by him in writing in that behalf certifying either that a specified person does or does not owe allegiance to the Asantehene shall be conclusive evidence of the fact so certified.
(10) The President may, subject to the provisions of this Act, grant a lease to any person other than a person owing allegiance to the Asantehene.
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(1) The rent to be charged in respect of any lease shall, subject to section 5 of this Act and to this section, be in accordance with a prescribed scale.
(2) The President may grant a lease of any Kumasi town land for any religious, educational, recreational or charitable purpose either free of rent or at a rent lower than the appropriate rent according to the prescribed scale.
(3) Where the lease of a free plot becomes vested in a person not owing allegiance to the Asantehene or in a person who already holds a free plot the lease shall thereupon become subject to the payment of rent in accordance with a prescribed scale.
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(1) Where it appears to the President that it is in the public interest so to do he may, by executive instrument, declare any Stool land to be vested in him in trust and accordingly it shall be lawful for the President, on the publication of the instrument, to execute any deed or do any act as a trustee in respect of the land specified in the instrument.
(2) Any moneys accruing as a result of any deed executed or act done by the President under subsection (1) shall be paid into the appropriate account for the purposes of this Act.
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(1) A disposal of a land which involves the payment of a valuable consideration or which would, by reason of it being to a person not entitled by customary law to the free use of land, involve the payment of available consideration, and which is made,
(a) by a Stool, or
(b) by a person who, by reason of that entitlement under customary law, has acquired possession of the land without payment of a consideration or in exchange for a nominal consideration,
is subject to the operation of article 267 of the Constitution.
(2) Omitted.
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(1) The President may, after consultation with the Chief Justice, by executive instrument appoint a tribunal to hear appeals under this Act.
(2) The tribunal shall consist of
(a) a Justice of the Supreme Court as chairman;
(b) a Justice of the High Court or the Circuit Court Judge; and
(c) a lawyer of at least five years standing within the meaning of the section of the Judicial Service Act, 1960 (CA 10).
(3) The decision of the tribunal on an appeal shall, subject to article 125 (3) and 218 of the Constitution, be final as to fact but the tribunal may reserve a question of law for the consideration of the Supreme Court and section 11 of the Courts Act, 1960 (CA 9) shall apply accordingly.
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(1) Subject to Article 20 of the Constitution, the President may authorise the occupation and use of a land to which this Act applies for a purpose which, in the opinion of the President is conducive to the public welfare or the interests of the State, and may pay into the appropriate account out of moneys provided by Parliament an annual amount of money which appear to the President, considering
(a) the value of the land, and
(b) the benefits derived by the people of the area in which the land is situated from the use of the land,
to be proper payments to be made for the land; and the moneys so paid into the account shall be applied in the same way as other revenues collected under this Act.
(2) Where the President authorises the occupation and use of a land under this section, the President shall publish a notice in the Gazette giving particulars of the land, of the use to which it is intended to be put, and of the payments which it is intended to make under this section in respect of that use of the land.
(3) Where a person suffers special loss by reason of disturbance as the result of an authorisation under this section that person shall, out of moneys provided by Parliament, be paid such compensation that the Minister or, on appeal, the appeal tribunal, may determine.
(4) A person dissatisfied with the failure of the Minister to grant compensation or with the amount of such compensation may appeal to the appeal tribunal.
(5) An appeal shall be lodged with the Minister for transmission to the tribunal within three months of publication of the notice referred to in subsection (2).
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No instrument executed before or after the commencement of this Act shall have the effect of granting or demising any right, title or interest in or to land in respect of minerals, timber, rubber or other products of the soil in or growing on that land or option of acquiring any such right, title or interest except in so far as such grant or demise shall contain express words granting or demising such right, title or interest or option thereon.
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(1) Except as provided in subsection (4) of this section a grant of any mining or timber rights in any land subject to this Act shall not exceed a term of sixty years for mining and thirty years for timber notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any other enactment.
(2) Except as provided in subsection (4) of this section and notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any other enactment a grant of any farming right to any land subject to the provisions of this Act shall not exceed
(a) in the case of land for poultry rearing or the cultivation of cereals, a term of ten years; or
(b) in the case of ranching or the cultivation of mixed or permanent crops, a term of fifty years.
(3) Except as provided in subsection (4) of this section no grant of any stool land to any one person and no aggregate of such grants shall exceed the following limits, that is to say,
(a) mining rights, 51.80 square kilometres for any grant or, in the aggregate, 155.40 square kilometres;
(b) timber rights, 103.40 square kilometres for any grant or, in the aggregate 621.60 square kilometres; and
(c) right to collect rubber, to cultivate products of the soil (other than timber) or relating to the pursuit of animal husbandry:
(i) for an individual, 2.59 square kilometres or in the aggregate 7.77 square kilometres;
(ii) for a body corporate or unincorporated body of persons established or registered in Ghana 12.95 square kilometres or in the aggregate 25.90 square kilometres.
(4) The President may, in the case of a particular land where the President is satisfied that special circumstances exist that render compliance with the limits prescribed by this section prejudicial to the national interest or to the interest of a stool, direct that the grant of that land or any other interest in that land shall exceed the areas specified in subsection (3) and the land or an interest in the land may be granted although the limits are exceeded.
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(1) The persons specified in subsection (2) shall afford to the Minister the information at their disposal regardingthe land and its revenues and the reasonable facilities for inspecting and taking copies of records and other documents relating to the land or revenues.
(2) The persons are for the purposes of subsection (1)
(a) a public officer;
(b) the officers of local authorities which formerly collected revenue of a land to which any provision of this Act applies;
(c) the present and past members of a traditional council and the present or past officers of a traditional council;
(d) the persons who are or have been concerned with or responsible for the administration of the land; and
(e) the persons who hold or have held the land.
(3) A person who fails or refuses to give information to the Minister in accordance with subsection (1), or gives information which that person knows to be false, commits a misdemeanour.
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(1) The Lands Commission shall keep the deeds, records, registers, accounts and other documents and the seals and stamps relating to land to which a provision of this Act applies.
(2) The documents, seals and stamps kept by the Commission under this section shall be made available by the Commissioner as and when required for the purposes of the management and disposition of the land.
(3) A person having the custody or control of a document, seal or stamp to which subsection (1) applies shall take the necessary steps to deliver it to the Commission.
(4) A person who destroys or conceals a document, seal or stamp which is that person's duty to deliver under this section, or who fails to comply with subsection (3) commits an offence, the penalty for which is not more than three years imprisonment and not more than seven hunderd and fifty penalty units.
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(1) Where a person is found in unlawful occupation of land to which this Act applies the Lands Commission may order that person to surrender the land within the period and on terms laid down, as to the removal of buildings, the reaping of growing produce, and any other matters, that the Commission thinks proper.
(2) A person who continues in occupation of land after the date on which that person is to surrender the land under this section, or who, having surrendered it, renews the unlawful occupation of the land, commits a misdemeanour and, in the case of a continuing offence, is liable in addition to a fine imposed for the original offence, to an additional fine not exceeding two hundred penalty units for every day during which the offence is continued.
(3) In proceedings against a person under this section, the proof that the occupation was lawful lies on the defendant; and the averment that the land is land to which this Act applies is sufficient without proof of that fact, unless the defendant proves the contrary.
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(1) All revenue from lands subject to this Act shall be collected by the Minister and for that purpose all rights to receive and all remedies to recover that revenue shall vest in him and, subject to the exercise of any power of delegation conferred by this Act, no other person shall have power to give a good discharge for any liability in respect of the revenue or to exercise any such right or remedy.
(2) Revenue for the purposes of this Act includes all rents, dues, fees, royalties, revenues, levies, tributes and other payments, whether in the nature of income or capital, from or in connection with lands subject to this Act.
(3) Subsection (1) of this section does not apply to revenue from forest produce, within the meaning of section 2 (excluding subsection (5)) of the Forests Ordinance (Cap. 157), which shall continue to be collected by the Chief Conservator of Forests.
(4) Any moneys in the Forests Improvement Fund in excess of authorised expenses in connection with exploitation and silvicultural work shall be transferred from that Fund to the Stool Lands Account.
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(1) Out of the moneys standing to the credit of the Stool Lands Account there shall, subject to subsection (2) of this section be paid to the local authorities in whose areas the lands are situated from which those moneys are derived such amounts as the Minister may by order determine.
(2) There shall be paid to the Kumasi City Council out of the Stool Lands Account annually in half-yearly instalments on or before the 30th day of September and the 31st day of March a sum representing one-third of the net rents derived from land within the boundaries defined in the Schedule to this Act, or the sum of six thousand pounds, whichever is the greater.
(3) In making an order under this section the Minister shall have regard to the purpose for which the money standing to the credit of the Stool Lands Account which is not paid out under this section will be applied.
(4) An order under this section may fix the amounts to be paid under this section to the respective local authorities, or may determine those amounts as proportions of the total amount of money standing to the credit of the Stool Lands Account or by any other method.
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Moneys in any Stool Lands Account remaining after payment of the sums due under section 19 of this Act shall be applied in accordance with this Act for the benefit of the people in the areas in which the particular lands are situated and in particular,
(a) in the maintenance of the Stool or other traditional authority including a Traditional Council; and
(b) in the making of grants for projects (including scholarships) for the benefit of the people of the area.
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1) The Minister shall, for each prescribed accounting period, and after consultation with the appropriate Traditional Council, prepare a scheme for the application of revenue in accordance with the provisions of this Part of this Act.
(2) A scheme under this section shall include estimates of the expenses of the Traditional Council, prepared by the Traditional Council after consultation with the Minister.
(3) A scheme under this section shall be based on estimates of the moneys available, and shall provide for the adjustments which are to be made if the money available falls short of or exceeds the amount so estimated.
(4) A scheme under this section shall be submitted for the approval of the President and shall be published in the Gazette.
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(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, no money shall be applied under this Act except in accordance with a scheme prepared and approved under section 21 of this Act.
(2) In the period of two years from the commencement of this Act, the Minister may make payments under this Part before the approval of the relevant scheme if it appears to him that it is required immediately.
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Any part of the moneys received by the Minister under this Act which, in his opinion, is of a capital nature shall not be applied under this Part of this Act except to defray expenditure which is designated by the Minister in a scheme under this Part of this Act as being of a capital nature, and in case there is no such expenditure or in any other case the money may be invested in such manner as the Minister responsible for finance may direct.
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(1) Accounts of all moneys received by the President under this Act shall be kept in a prescribed form.
(2) The accounts shall be audited by the Auditor-General not less than once a year and the Minister shall present a copy of all accounts so audited, together with any report of the Auditor-General on the accounts, to the National Assembly and shall also cause those accounts together with any report thereon to be published in the Gazette.
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(1) The Boundary Books kept under the Boundary, Land, Tribute, and Fishery Disputes Ordinance (Cap. 144), repealed by this Act, shall be transferred to and kept by the Chief Registrar of Lands appointed under the Land Registry Act, 1962 (Act 122).
(2) The Chief Registrar of Lands shall give reasonable facilities for the search and inspection of any Boundary Book and for the issue of certified copies of executive decisions officially recorded therein.
(3) Fees may be prescribed for the purposes of this section.
(4) A certified copy of an entry in a Boundary Book issued by a registrar shall be conclusive evidence of the executive decision to which it relates.
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All expenses incurred by the Minister in the exercise of his functions under this Act shall be defrayed from moneys granted by vote of the National Assembly but there shall from time to time be paid to the Consolidated Fund out of revenue collected under this Act such sums as in the opinion of the Minister represent the costs of the exercise of his functions; provided that such payments shall for each prescribed accounting period, be in the case of lands vested in the President in trust, not less than seven and one-half per centum of the gross revenue derived from the lands for that year, and, in the case of other lands subject to this Act, not less than two and one-half per centum of the gross revenue derived from the lands for that year.
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(1) The President may, by legislative instrument, make Regulations-
(a) for any matter (including fees) which is to be prescribed;
(b) defining the boundaries of, or otherwise describing, any land to which this Act applies, or altering or amending any such boundary or description;
(c) for giving full effect to the provisions of this Act.
(2) Every statutory instrument made under an enactment repealed by this Act and in force immediately before the commencement of this Act shall continue in force and forms in use under the repealed enactment may, with necessary modifications, continue to be used until provision is otherwise made by regulations under this Act.
(3) Subject to the terms of any instrument under subsection (1), the descriptions and boundaries set out in the schedule to the Kumasi Lands Ordinance (Cap. 145), shall be conclusive as to the extent and limits of the lands to which they refer, notwithstanding the repeal of that Ordinance.
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(1) A right of occupancy granted under any enactment repealed by this Act and in force immediately before the commencement of this Act shall be deemed to be a lease determinable by six months notice by either party and shall be subject to the provisions of this Act.
(2) A title to land in the Northern and Upper Regions other than land vested in the President acquired between the first day of July, 1960, and the commencement of this Act by any person shall be void if it is not proved to the satisfaction of the President within one year from such commencement.
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In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:-
"appeal tribunal" means a tribunal under section 18 of this Act;
"minerals" means minerals of all kinds including mineral oil;
"Minister" means the Minister to whom functions under this Act are assigned by the President;
"Stool land" includes land controlled by any person for the benefit of the subjects or members of a Stool, clan, company or community, as the case may be and all land in the Upper and Northern Regions other than land vested in the President and accordingly "Stool" means the person exercising such control;
"traditional area" has the meaning given to it by the Chieftaincy Act, 1961 (Act 81).
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(1) Each of the following enactments is repealed:-
Accra Town (Lands) Ordinance (Cap. 87).
Stool Lands Boundaries Settlement Ordinance (Cap. 139).
Takoradi Harbour and Town (Acquisition of Lands) Ordinance (Cap. 140).
Boundaries Ascertainment Ordinance (Cap. 142).
Boundary, Land, Tribute, and Fishery Disputes Ordinance (Cap. 144).
Kumasi Lands Ordinance (Cap. 145).
Stool Lands Boundaries Settlement (Amendment) Act, 1957 (No. 26).
Akim Abuakwa (Stool Revenue) Act, 1958 (No. 8).
Ashanti Stool Lands Act, 1958 (No. 28).
Stool Lands (Validation of Legislation) Act, 1959 (No. 30).
Stool Lands Control Act, 1959 (No. 79).
Forests Improvement Fund Act, 1960 (No. 12), section 8.
Stool Lands Act, 1960 (Act 27).
Amendment of CA 6 s. 19
(2) Section 19 of the State Property and Contracts Act, 1960 (CA 6) is amended by the deletion of "and in particular for " and paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d).
Saving
(3) Notwithstanding the repeal of the Stool Lands Boundaries Settlement Ordinance (Cap. 139), the Minister may by executive instrument revoke or amend any order or declaration made under the repealed Ordinance.
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