Reformatting the Commons: Digital Land Reforms and Grassroots Contestation in West Africa

Abstract

This manuscript is an examination of processes and outcomes of digitalisation of land administration and governance in Mali and Ghana. It examines how these processes in the two countries affect customary land tenure and administration, as well as the social groups, most of whom reside in villages and communities governed by customary land. We draw on ethnographic field research conducted in Mali, especially in and around Bamako, from key state institutions with mandates over land, and in the peri-urban areas of Kumasi and Koforidua in Ghana, along with their respective regional Lands Commissions. Digitalisation is well placed to resolve conflictual and complex customary land tenure and delivery challenges confronting societies and governments in the two countries. Nevertheless, our findings indicate that, despite state efforts to engage customary land tenure systems and actors, especially in Mali, land digitalisation largely remains disconnected from customary tenure arrangements. The neoliberal foundations of digitalisation erode any equitable outcomes, which remain elusive for many.