Seize All Disputed Lands - Supreme Court Judge

A Supreme Court Judge, Justice Allan Brobbey, has called on the government to take over all lands in the country, which are under dispute. He has also asked the government to compel litigants in land cases to explore all possible settlements by the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) before going to court.

“These measures will reduce the number of land cases filed in court”, he said. Mr Justice Brobbey made the call when he delivered the keynote address to open a five-day workshop on a Land Administration Project (LAP).

He noted that many of the land cases that went to court could easily be settled by ADR, a mechanism that even advanced countries were resorting to in order to control litigation. “In the USA now, over 60 per cent of cases filed in court were settled by ADR without having to go to court before a trial judge. Even cases on Appeal are now being settled by ADR”, he noted.

The Supreme Court judge said there were many more cases filed in the courts at every given time than the courts were capable of disposing of. The statistics showed about 50 land cases were filed at the High Courts in Accra alone ever day.