Trouble is brewing between the Odupong-Kpehe (Kasoa) stool land owners in the central region, and landlords over registration of lands in the area. This follows the posting of notices on houses in the area demanding that landlords regularise their acquisition of lands in the area. The exercise began in September and is expected to end by the end of December 2009. Custodians of the stool land are demanding that landlords submit their indentures, site plans, land payment receipts, witnesses to the land acquisition and other relevant documents. The notice further says that "all properties on which documents are not produced within this exercise period will be considered as lands not properly acquired.” Subsequently legal action will be instituted against defaulters. While the Odupong-Kpehe customary land secretariat says the exercise is being carried out in good faith, some landlords alleged that it was meant to extort money from them. Michael Wellington, Public Relations Officer of the secretariat at Kasoa told the Times that the exercise was meant to change old indentures and introduce new ones to regularise land acquisition in the area. Mr Wellington said about 119 landlords had so far come to the secretariat to regularise their documents. He said the exercise formed part of the government of Ghana's Land Administration Project aimed at minimising land related disputes and conflicts. He said the cost of change of documentation is GH¢500.00. He explained that landowners who had already regularised their documents would not pay any fee. Mr Wellington said about 80 per cent of cases at the courts from Kasoa Odupon-kphehe were landrelated adding that the exercise was meant to reduce those conflicts. A number of landlords who spoke to the Times on condition of anonymity expressed misgivings about the exercise. In fact, some landlords at 'Ash Town", a suburb of Odupong-Kpehe, have defaced the notices. A landlord at "Ash Town" said he acquired the land from the Odupong-kpehe stool over 20 years ago and was given documents and therefore did not understand why he must re-register. He suspected that the exercise was a ploy by the stool land owners to extort money from landlords. "The stool land owners had sold all their lands and were now looking for avenues to make money," he said. Another landlord described the exercise as diabolic, threatening that they would go to court to seek redress if the exercise continued. He told the Times that he feared the exercise could become chaotic if it was not properly handled. Source: Times