This book is based on the slightly revised version of the doctoral dissertation I submitted to the Catholic Theological Faculty of the Westphalian Wilhelms University of Münster in July of 2016. In 2011 my professor of missiology drew my attention to large-scale transnational land acquisitions by international firms for biofuel production in developing countries. In the same year I travelled to my home country, Ghana, and to my utmost surprise, large-scale land acquisition of agricultural land for biofuel production was gaining the considerable attention of both government and local representations. The first question that I asked myself was: What have the Christian churches done so far to protect or empower communities against these activities? In this book, I critically examine the role of the Catholic Church in northern Ghana as the voice of the voiceless using a socio-ethical approach to these problems. The socio-ethical teaching of the Church as a normative approach is combined with empowerment theory to provide standards for evaluating the processes and outcomes of transnational land deals. This approach has been used to analyze the power relations and the political processes in the negotiation process and to answer the question of whether there was any accountability on the part of formal and informal leaders. This normative approach, however, does not provide any blueprint answers to these challenging questions, but rather attempts to build on several suggestions concerning this issue. For lack of space I have decided to add only a few abridged transcribed raw data in the form of boxes. Any person interested in the raw data can contact me through my email address: emmadassah@yahoo.com.
There are many individuals who are directly or indirectly responsible for the ideas in this book which could not have come to fruition without their help and the support of some organizations. I offer my thanks to all of them. My interest in land-use ethics grew when I joined the Institute for Christian Social Ethics at the Westphalian Wilhelms-University Münster for my doctoral programme. I am especially grateful to my main supervisor, Prof. Dr. Marianne Heimbach-Steins, for her constructive criticism and encouragement. She showed great interest and patience throughout the study, especially during my search for an appropriate analytical framework. She stood by me in the most difficult times of my academic carrier. I shall always be grateful to her. I am also very grateful to my co-supervisor, Prof. Dr. Dr. habil. Klaus Müller, for his encouragement. The opportunity to work with him was a great experience which I deeply appreciate.
I also owe special thanks to Rev. Fr. Hans-Bernd Koeppen whose support was instrumental in bringing me to Münster to pursue my academic studies. I so appreciate the good times we had and are still having together; I cannot repay his generosity in any way. I would also like to thank the Diocese of Münster for its financial support throughout my studies. I would like to thank in particular the auxiliary bishop of this diocese, Dr. Stefan Zekorn, for his kind support during the period of my financial difficulties. Without him this study would have been impossible. My sincere thanks are also owed to the Bishop of Yendi, Most Rev. Dr. Vincent Sowah Boi-Nai, SVD for his personal encouragement.
I also deeply appreciate the support of the families of Herbert Huesmann and Bernard Busch who accepted me as their child and brother, providing me with parental love. May God richly bless them. I extend my sincere thanks to Dr. Veronika Jüttemann of the Department of Adult Education, University of Münster, for her criticism and suggestions. She will always remain an intellectual and a practical mentor. I also extend my gratitude to Martha M. Matesich for the final proofreading of the manuscript.
To all my informants, especially to the traditional authorities and people of Jimle, Kpachaa and Jaashie who patiently educated me, provided me with the needed information, and listened to me, I wish to express my deepest appreciation. Without them this study would have been impossible. To James A. Natia and Anita Tii Nobiya who constantly kept me abreast of issues in Ghana and encouraged me to work harder, I extend a big thank you. Finally, I thank my parents and all my siblings for keeping me in their prayers.