Just Land is an online/offline platform that provides fast, affordable, efficient and reliable services for thousands of vulnerable families to legally register their lands and obtain land documents in few days avoiding long bureaucratic procedures, cheating and corruption in Ghana.
Janix Kwabena Asare is a Professional GIS Consultant/Advocate, a Social Entrepreneur and a YALI Fellow who invented Just Land. This disruptive innovation was awarded by the HiiL Innovating Justice as the innovation with most impact in West Africa in during the 2016 Boostcamp held in Lagos, Nigeria on 29th September, 2016.
About 75% of all lands in Ghana are unregistered. Whether you are rich or poor, literate or illiterate if you are ignorant of the legal land acquisition/registration process you easily lose huge sums of money, properties, your land and even your life due to the tens of thousands of land ownership disputes in Ghana.
However, those mostly affected are the urban poor. Normally the only thing poor people own is their land. In Ghana, most land disputes have been caused by traditional leaders and individuals selling one land to more than one person. About 2% of land buyers ascertain the following information before purchasing a land. First, land ownership; second, the legal processes involved in the acquisition/sale of a land and; third, the suitability of a land for a purpose. This is defrauding the buyers. Land Litigation cases are rampant among court cases. Land disputes and litigation are causing troubles within and among families, communities and ethnic groups all over the country. There has been a lot of demolishing exercises carried out; flooding, and tidal waves raiding lands. These as results lead to the loss of huge sums of money due to the destruction of business infrastructures and houses which affect the financial status of people, their family and their SMEs. The major contributing factors are long bureaucratic processes, inadequate finances, ignorance and illiteracy across families.
Through Just Land online platform, individuals and organizations are provided with information on the details of the suitability of a land for a particular purpose, the legal land owner, the boundaries of a land as well as the legal step-by-step registration process involved in land acquisition. Just Land offers services for land buyers to verify the authenticity of Allocation Papers offer accurate Site Plan Design, Building Plans Design, and Cadastral Survey as well as acquire Lease and Building Permits.
Just Land is unique because it provides land buyers Just Lines (help lines) for them to call and send messages for free information or guide on legal land acquisition. Just Land also provides geoform (location based form) for land buyers to make on-site inquiries about land(s) of interest. Just Land informs land buyers about and the legal status of the land. For example if a land is not registered, is there a litigation issue? It also incorporates Geotrigger/Geofencing features that make land information readily available to the buyers while they are on the site of the land of interest. Users can choose when and at what times they would like to receive alerts about the land information.
‘Just Pad’ is also a mobile handheld field survey device designed for Land Surveying, Site Suitability Analysis and Building Inspection. Just Pad includes ‘Just Land’ software installation, GIS and GPS capabilities.
Key Activities of Just Land are: Research, Open-Ended Discussions and Partnership with stakeholders in Land Management: Traditional Chief Stool Land Owners, Town and Country Planning, Lands Commission, Law Court, Assembly Men/Women as well as the Environmental System Research Institute (ESRI). Also, there is Land Information data collection into ‘Just Land’ platform and Just Pad. Last but not least, educating and engaging community members on the legal step-by-step registration process involved in land acquisition through Community meeting, and the Mass Media.
In the next 5-10 years Just Land seeks to register 60,000 Lands, save countless and priceless lives, save families properties and funds worth 8.9 Billion US Dollars lost due to land ownership disputes. Just Land- Just for You…
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.