Workshop on to validate Customary Land and Family Laws held in Upper East

Bolgatanga, July 27, GNA - A validation workshop on customary land and family laws has been held in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.

It was to provide the platform for the participants to confirm, clarify, suggest and provide additional information that would better reflect the customs and practices of the people in the traditional area.

The workshop which was organized by the Ascertainment and Codification of Customary Law Project, formed part of a series of workshop, being organized in 20 selected traditional areas in the 10 regions.

The Ascertainment of Customary Law project, ACPL, is a joint research project established by the National House of Chiefs and the Law Reform Commission with support from the German Development Cooperation (GTZ).

The purpose of the project is to ascertain and codify the customary law rules and practices on land and families in Ghana.

The Executive Secretary of the ACLP, Mrs. Scheilah Minkah, said between May and July 2009, a team of researchers from the project conducted interviews with paramount and divisional chiefs, female traditional leaders, indigenous and settler farmers, as well as people with disability and land related institutional heads, in the Bolgatanga Traditional area.

Mrs. Minkah said it was obvious that even though customary law was an important source of law in Ghana, what constitutes customary law in a particular community was not always clear.

She said the impact of this uncertainty was most prominent and evident in two areas which affect the most significant facets of national life in Ghana; family law and land law.

She said the final output of the project would make uses of land and family law certain and this would assist in the settlement of disputes and bring more transparency in land transactions, which would aid development.

The Director of Research of the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture, Dr. Henry Seidu Daannaa, said the National House of Chiefs sees the workshop as a very important exercise and appealed to the participants to give their maximum cooperation.

The Paramount Chief of the Bolgatanga Traditional Area, Naba Martin Abilba III, was optimistic that the input of the participants would further enhance the peace that the traditional area is enjoying.

Twelve traditional rulers from the Bolgatanga Traditional Council attended the workshop.