Ghana’s Lands Commission Fraud, Bribery, God, and Me
Navigating Corruption: A Personal Account of Land Registration and Bribery in Ghana’s Lands Commission
I am meeting a gentleman from the Lands Commission to map and measure the exact area of land I’m registering with them. He has agreed to meet me at five on a Sunday morning in Madina to drive to the land in Aburi South. He has insisted on being back in time for Church by 7:30 am., which is laughable to me, given Ghanaian traffic even on a Sunday morning and the location of my land. Indeed, when we meet with a Madina sky still under the cloak of darkness–he’s already visibly upset that I’m fifteen minutes late.
You see, I went to the office of the Lands Commission some weeks ago to register two plots of land I had just bought, which is a compulsory requirement of Ghanaian Conveyancing Law. But it soon became apparent that the gentleman handling the case would do so through his private company. According to the receipt I insisted on getting after paying him over 1000% more than the land registration fee should be, the service is being provided by his private business rather than via the Lands Commission department.
He takes me to his four-wheel drive vehicle parked in the Commission’s courtyard and has me sit in the back, counting out the…
