‘Landguardism’ in Ghana: Examining public perceptions about the driving factors

Abstract Landguardism has become a bane in Ghana’s urban land markets. Previous studies have qualitatively explored the drivers of this phenomenon from the perspectives of both state agencies and landguards themselves. Despite the insights uncovered, understanding of public perceptions about the factors driving landguardism in Ghana is still lacking. This paper fills this critical gap by drawing on data from 172 residents living in both the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area and the Greater Kumasi Area to ascertain their perceptions about the main factors driving landguardism in Ghana. The results from our exploratory factor analysis show that (1) challenges with state-led land rights formalisation, (2) customary land maladministration, (3) government policy failures in housing and land markets, (4) reliable and cost-effective landguard services, and (5) challenges with seeking legal redress, are the five main drivers of landguardism in Ghana. The study concludes that mitigating landguardism must consider multiple factors within which the concept sits. The political and policy implications of the results are elaborated.