Ghana’s minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Samuel Abu Jinapor, has revealed that the country is poised to build a robust and functioning land administration system to discard the inefficiencies, fraud, and delays in the land sector.
Mr Jinapor acknowledged that the old system had led to widespread fraud, security risks, and even the loss of human lives, and pledged that his ministry would increase its efforts to reform the industry.
Perhaps the greatest danger to our national security and progress comes from fraudulent and incompetent land administration, he said. “Here in Ghana, however, we are on the verge of erecting a fully-fledged land administration that is founded not on the usual opaqueness, fraud, and delays but on the principles of openness and trustworthiness.”
He made the remarks during the opening ceremony of the inaugural National Land Conference in Accra.
The goal of the four-day conference is to provide a venue for a concerted national conversation about the land sector, dialogue on the intractable issues bedevilling the sector, the exchange of information about best practices, and the sparking of the motivation required for increased collaboration and coordination among state land actors.
Speaking on the theme of “leveraging national land policy, legislation, and institutional capacity towards sustainable socio-economic development,” the sector minister revealed that the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources recognizes the important role that secured land and property rights play in governance, peace, and security, as well as sustainable economic growth and development.
“Unfortunately, over the years, we haven’t been able to construct an efficient land administration in our country. As a Ministry responsible for lands, we are not oblivious of the many challenges in our land service delivery and its attendant costs, including conflicting judicial decisions,” he said.
The country’s president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo in his keynote address urged attendees to work together to develop the land in a way that will lead to the kind of planned action that will help the country make the progress it so desperately needs.
“Stronger partnership is required between government, traditional authorities, civil society organizations every private sector to fashion out pragmatic and workable relation to governing land administration, land tenure and land use to create the needed balance in our cultural socio-economic and political development,” he said.
Five client service access units of the Land Commission have been set up as part of the Land Administration Project (LAP) to improve service delivery, and other measures have also been implemented to ensure the effective and efficient delivery of the land system in the country.
In addition, Nana Akufo-Addo stated that a supportive land policy is crucial to the progress of the country toward its goal of providing a better life for its citizens.
Among the policies implemented to guarantee the sector operates without fraud or inefficiency are the creation of customary land secretariats, judicial reforms via the creation of specialized land courts, the passage of the Land Use and Land Service Act of 2016, Act 925, the introduction of the new 3-tier special planning model, and the development of the national special development framework.
“Our quest to transform our national economy, to bring about massive development and prosperity to our people cannot be achieved if we fail to enter an effective land administration,” he added.
By: Collins Nsiah Kwabena / www.zamireports.com / Accra.
