Blockchain on stool land acquisition: Lessons from Ghana for strengthening land tenure security other than titling

The paper develops a blockchain-enabled framework for stool land acquisition in Ghana that makes it possible for parties with interest in lands to object to their sale if the transaction is being conducted on their blind side. The framework also makes it possible for potential land buyers to authenticate in real-time the ownership status of the land they want to acquire–whether the property is registered with the Lands Commission or has been deregistered from the Commission’s records. The framework is a response to Ghana’s current opaque and weakly coordinated land administration systems flourishing the phenomenon of multiple sale of same lands and other land tenure security problems in the country. Further to providing a blockchain-enabled stool lands acquisition framework that enhances transparency, accountability, and better land records keeping in Ghana, the paper takes issues with the view widely held in international development, government, judicial, and some academic circles that titling or lease registration is the only or primary viable means of securing land rights. Our findings from Ghana show that in addition to creating predatory economies for powerful land sector actors (e.g., chiefs and land administrators) to extort outrageous sums of money from land buyers, the heavy emphasis on land titling or lease registration undermines efforts at strengthening other less cumbersome, less costly and less corruption-laden aspects of land administration to improve property rights in the land sector.