the district. Wooden shanty structures, containers, kiosks, and unfinished but occupied homes stand next to large concrete McMansions (Willington, 2009). Signs and spray paint on walled properties and unfinished homes indicate the owner of the land, in an attempt to scare those who would try to resell land that is not theirs.
East Legon Summary East Legon still is popular because of its proximity to Tema, the airport and Central Accra. Though it does have a modern planning scheme, it is still marked by uneven development because of conflicts over land ownership. Even those who “lawfully” own land are not respecting planning schemes. This has resulted in seasonal flooding, large homes that cannot be supported by the services provided by the government, and clusters of villages without basic provisions. East Legon was planned on paper but the entire sub-metro would be an even more desirable place to live if the land ownership situation on the ground would have allowed for the actual plan to fully implemented.
Conclusion The various types of land ownership that now exist in the West African country of Ghana have ultimately led to islands of planned and unplanned spaces even in the capital city of Accra. The Ghanaian government could simply nationalize all the land in the country so there would be one consistent form of land ownership. This, however, would be very difficult to do in a country with such strong traditional leaders whose wealth is tied to land. While Jamestown suffers from a lack of ownership investment, land tenure issues in East Legon have caused uneven, and in some places, dangerous, development. For the planning system in Ghana to be effective, citizens must also be aware and informed of the benefits of following through with land registration procedures and respect uses laid out by officials. It is difficult to convince many in Ghana to go through official means to obtain land and building permission and there is no real enforcement compelling developers to abide by building/development permits (Akoto-Bamfo, 2008). The process of
buying and developing land in Ghana is a long and difficult one and by consolidating departments dealing with land the Government hopes to streamline this process. Land disputes are not the only barrier to planned development in Accra. Districts are also in need of planning staff, resources and data as, “...land is being sold at a far faster rate than [the TCPD] can produce the plans” (Gough & Yankson, 2000). The lack of monitoring and mobility makes it difficult to enforce planning and development schemes. The Ghana Institute of Architects also points to corruption in the planning process as a barrier, “...‘there are several interferences from persons from higher authority’ in both approving and disapproving construction” and development (Akoto-Bamfo, 2008). There needs to be regularized methods of obtaining and managing land so that getting permission for development is not cumbersome and so land owners can be held accountable for unplanned or undocumented development.
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