ABSTRACT
Since the advent of the Third Republic in November, 1991, the need to re-examine the established customs, institutions and practices relating to land as well as other basic tenets of land policy as formulated in the first two Republics has been increasingly appreciated by pertinent professional bodies and even by the government. More importantly, a National Conference on Land Policy and Legal Reform was organised for the period 19 July-23 July, 1993. The two major political parties, the ruling Movement for Multi-party Democracy and the official opposition in Parliament, the United National Independence Party have also found the area of land policy a fertile one for ideological battles. This can be illustrated by the Budget Speech, in which the Minister of Finance portrayed the legal status of land as a major impediment to new investment; and he implicitly supported freehold tenure.
