Host Communities’ Participation in Large-Scale Land Deal Negotiations in Rural Ghana

This paper examines host communities’ participation in large-scale land negotiations from two districts in Ghana. Its main purpose was to explore the extent of local people’s involvement and satisfaction in large-scale land deal decisions.The study employed a concurrent mixed methods approach embedded in a cross-sectional design. Self -administered questionnaire and interview guide were used to collected data from primary respondents and key informants. The paper found that the local people’s involvement in land deals was limited essentially to mere consent of the acquisitions. Based on this premise, the paper argues that mere consent to land deals represents a weak form of participation in such projects. Further, it was observed in the two study districts that there were differentiated forms of participation. While participation was broad-based in the Asutifi North District, that of Sene West District was the exclusive reserve of the members of the traditional council. Against this backdrop, the paper argues for the establishment of multi-stakeholder platforms with clearly defined roles and responsibilities for community representatives and implementation mechanisms for ensuring regular information flow to affected communities.