Recent studies of democratization in sub Saharan Africa often focus on government recognition given to traditional authorities. This article concentrates on Northern Ghana where chiefs of a minority group are denied formal recognition but pressure state officials to recognize their status as land custodians. This led to contests and debates between state officials, chiefs, and communities over whether the customary institutions had in fact been recognized for what they claimed to be. Episodes of contention are discussed to nuance conceptualizations of recognition as a specific relationship between actors and institutions, and as a question of government policy or choice. Recognition and non-recognition are contested in a grey zone of social constructions. Non-recognition persists as a continuation of colonial policy, state law path trajectory, and state officials’ endeavours to stay out of ‘traditional’ affairs. However, customary rights to land are validated, willy-nilly, by the new local government institution, and chiefs use newfound positions to expand jurisdictions. Stakeholders affirm unequal social categories underpinning different understandings of recognition. The article examines the contentions that hinge on interpretations of who is recognizing and not recognizing whom, and actors’ efforts to reshape and reproduce political structures.