A two-day validation workshop on Ascertainment and Codification of Customary Law Project (ACLP) for members of the Brong Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs opened in Sunyani on Wednesday.
Barima Offe Akwasi Okogyeasuo II, Omanhene of Kokofu and member of the joint steering committee of the ACLP called on traditional rulers to play an effective role to make the project successful to improve extra-judicial,
pre-trial and litigious conflict resolution in the country.
The ACLP was established by the National House of Chiefs (NHC) in collaboration with the Law Reform Commission (LRC) to undertake research to ascertain the customary law on land and family in the country's traditional areas.
The objective of the workshop among other things was to validate the findings of data collected in Duayaw-Nkwanta and Nkoranza traditional areas on the project.
Barima Okgyeasuo II, Omanhene observed that even though customary law was an important source of law in Ghana, the contents of the rules and
practices of any particular community were not clear.
"In many cases different versions of the customary law rules compete for pre-eminence, resulting in great uncertainty," he stated.
Barima Okogyeasuo noted that lack of certainty in the customary law and conflicting accounts of customary rules contributed significantly to family and land disputes in Ghana, particularly with regard to the management of stool lands, which constituted the most crucial resource in the country.
Barima Okogyeasuo said gaps in the knowledge of the customary law also accounted for the high incidence of chieftaincy disputes and stressed the importance of the ascertainment and codification of customary law rules.
"The systematic documentation of customary law rules that are easily ascertainable and accessible would be most valuable to traditional rulers and the country as a whole", he said.
Throwing more light on the project, Mrs Sheila Minkah-Premo, Executive Secretary of ACLP, said the project which begun in December 2006 had
established a joint steering committee with membership drawn from the NHC and LRC.
The joint steering committee is an oversight body which is responsible for overseeing the research process and the overall implementation of the project.
Mrs Minkah-Premo explained that the project was planned in three phases and that 20 traditional areas - two from each region had been selected for the first phase of the pilot project.
"During this phase literature review will be undertaken on customary land and family law and a methodology developed for the collection of data.
"The result is that customary laws from the pilot areas will be ascertained, validated and codified and lessons learnt from the pilot
documented for future use," she said.
Under the second phase, additional variations of customary law from about 30 traditional areas would be collected on land and family law.
Mrs Minkah-Premo added that consultations would also be held with the traditional leaders from other areas which were not involved in the process of data collection to give them the opportunity to review the findings of the ascertained law and identify variations from the communities under the final phase of the project.
Osahene Kwaku Aterkyi II, President of the house and Omanhene of Kukuom traditional area advised the chiefs in the two pilot areas in the region to play a leading role so that the validation of the data would be properly done.
The omanhene expressed the hope that the pilot phases would be extended to many traditional areas to sustain the project.