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CHAPTER 21
LANDS AND NATURAL RESOURCES
Part I Public Lands
257 PUBLIC LANDS AND OTHER PUBLIC PROPERTY
(1)
All public lands in Ghana shall be vested in the President on behalf of, and in trust for, the people of
Ghana.
(2)
For the purposes of this article, and subject to clause (3) of this article, "public lands" includes any
land which, immediately before the coming into force of this Constitution, was vested in the
Government of Ghana on behalf of, and in trust for, the people of Ghana for the public service of
Ghana, and any other land acquired in the public interest, for the purposes of the Government of
Ghana before, on or after that date.
(3)
For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that all lands in the Northern, Upper East and Upper
West Regions of Ghana which immediately before the coming into force of this Constitution were
vested in the Government of Ghana are not public lands within the meaning of clauses (1) and (2) of
this article.
(4)
Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, all lands referred to in clause (3) of this article shall vest
in any person who was the owner of the land before, the vesting, or in the appropriate skin without
further assurance than this clause.
(5)
Clauses (3) and (4) of this article shall be Without prejudice to the vesting by the Government in itself
of any land which is required in the public interest for public purposes.
(6)
Every mineral in its natural state in, under or upon any land in Ghana, rivers, streams, water courses
throughout Ghana, the exclusive economic zone and any area covered by the territorial sea or
continental shelf is the property of the Republic of Ghana and shall be vested in the President on
behalf of, and in trust for the people of Ghana.
Lands Commission
Ghana 1992 (rev. 1996)
Page 116