Individual Corruption

According to Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer 2009, a substantial amount of Ghanaian households consider bribes to land authorities to obtain favourable decisions a 'very serious problem' in Ghana. Moreover, in Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer 2010, roughly a fifth of the surveyed households report to have paid a bribe to land authorities in 2009.

Business Corruption

According to the Bertelsmann Foundation 2010, although property rights are adequately defined and protected in law, shortcomings still exist in practice, especially in regard to lengthy legal procedures. Also Freedom House 2010 emphasises that there exist deficiencies in the property ownership documentation system; according to the report, these often lead to the extralegal resolution of land disputes, and could potentially create opportunities for corruption.  

Registering property in Ghana is less time-consuming than the regional average. However, obtaining clear title over land is difficult and the US Department of State 2011 recommends that foreign companies make thorough searches at the Lands Commission to ascertain the identity of the true owner of any land being offered for sale.

Political Corruption

According to Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer 2009, Ghanaians perceive land administration to be distorted by grand and political corruption.

In July 2005, a television crew was arrested and detained at former President Kufuor's residence for filming a hotel building near the president's house that was allegedly purchased by Kufuor in his son's name using funds that were obtained illegally, according to IFEX.

Frequency

The World Bank & IFC: Doing Business 2011:
- Registering property in Ghana requires a company to go through 5 administrative steps, taking an average of 34 days at a cost of 1% of the property value, which is significantly better than regional averages.

World Economic Forum: The Global Competitiveness Report 2010-2011:
- Business executives give the protection of property rights in Ghana, including financial assets, a score of 4.2 on a 7-point scale (1 'very weak' and 7 'very strong').

Transparency International: Global Corruption Barometer 2010:
- 19.1% of the households surveyed reported to have paid a bribe to land services in 2009.

Transparency International: Global Corruption Barometer 2009:
- 44% of households consider grand or political corruption in land matters to be a 'very serious problem'.

- 54% of respondents consider bribes to land authorities to obtain favorable decisions a 'very serious problem' in Ghana.