Ghana: Information on the traditional customary inheritance of the Akan tribe regarding property, both realty and personalty, and whether the practice is different with the Akan of the Brong Ahafo region
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 August 1997 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | GHA27435.E |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ghana: Information on the traditional customary inheritance of the Akan tribe regarding property, both realty and personalty, and whether the practice is different with the Akan of the Brong Ahafo region, 1 August 1997, GHA27435.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ac9a70.html [accessed 19 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
According to Christine Oppong, author of Middle Class African Marriage, the Akan are a matrilineal society and observe the practice of matrilineal inheritance. A man's wife and children are excluded from ownership and inheritance of property, therefore, it is inherited by members of his maternal family (1981, 91). The author further states that "the practice still continues even among educated or urban migrants far from their natal areas, and even in cases where the wives and orphans in question have resort to the legal protection afforded by the provisions of the Marriage Ordinance" (ibid., 92).
For detailed information on the traditional inheritance practices of the Akan tribe regarding realty and personal property, please consult the attached Canadian Journal of African Studies document. Information on whether the Akan of Brong Ahafo region have different inheritance practices could not be found among the sources currently available to the DIRB.
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
Reference
Oppong, Christine. 1981. Middle Class African Marriage: A Family Study of Ghanaian Senior Civil Servants. London: George Allen & Unwin.
Attachments
Canadian Journal of African Studies [Studies]. 1990. Vol. 24, No. 1. Kofi Awusabo-Asare. "Matriliny and the New Intestate Succession Law of Ghana," pp. 1-14.
Oppong, Christine. 1981. Middle Class African Marriage: A Family Study of Ghanaian Senior Civil Servants. London: George Allen & Unwin, pp. 40-51, 90-95.
Additional Sources Consulted
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The Europa World Year Book 1996. 1996. 37th ed. Vol. 2. London: Europa Publications.
Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports. 1996.
Human Rights Watch World Report. 1996, 1997.
Horn of Africa Bulletin [Uppsala]. Bimonthly.
Keesing's Record of World Events [Cambridge]. 1996-1997.
New African [London]. Monthly.
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On-line search on NEXIS database
