Sekondi, July 16, GNA – The Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Mr George Mireku Duker, has described as worrying the situation where many farmers and landowners have given out their Lands for illegal mining.
This, he noted, had led to the wanton destruction and the reduction of arable land and forest resources as well as the pollution of major rivers like the Tano, Pra and Ankobra.
Mr Duker was speaking during the inauguration of the reconstituted 21-member Western Region Lands Commission in Sekondi.
The Board, which has Dr Issac Obbrem Kofi Sagoe, as its chairman, was sworn into office by the Supervising High Court Judge Justice Mrs Hannah Taylor.
The members were drawn from the 14 MMDAs in the Region, Ghana Bar Association, Farmers and Fishers Association, Land use and Spatial Planning Authority, Regional House of Chiefs, Ghana Institute of Surveyors and Regional Lands Officials.
The Deputy Minister noted that the current trend of illegal mining posed a serious threat to human security.
He reminded the members to always be guided by the adage that “Our land belongs to our ancestors, the living and the generation unborn,” adding that policies in the land sector must have the interest of the future generations at heart.
He said the operations of quack surveyors and estate agents were on the increase while encroachment on public lands with the connivance of some customary land claimants was creating tension between government agencies and traditional authorities.
The Deputy Minister pointed out that the Region was very rich in natural resources, attracting prospective investors, particularly in the Mining, timber, cocoa, rubber and oil palm sectors to acquire land.
“The discovery of oil in commercial quantities has ignited a renewed interest in land in the Region, and it is not surprising, therefore, that this has resulted in a plethora of litigation in several communities which have ended in court.”
Mr Duker indicated that the upsurge in land sales by various claimants without authorized planning and development schemes had led to haphazard developments and poor utilization of land.
He noted that the rapid expansion of communities within the rubber and oil palm plantation enclave as well as the Atuabo Gas Plant and proposed Petroleum Hub at Dumunli had also heightened tension between the indigenous settlers and investors in recent times.
Mr Duker said there was agitation for the release of some unutilized lands under the free zones enclave and asked the members to draw up the road map for the effective settlement of these challenges.
He indicated that the new Land Act, 2020 (ACT 1036 ) had a lot of severe punitive measures to miscreants and that awareness programmes being drawn up for the dissemination of the Land Act will lay much emphasis on that aspect.
Mr Duker tasked the members to find practical measures to mitigate the problems by collaborating with the relevant government agencies and customary land owners to find the appropriate solutions.
He urged them to work with the needed zeal and commitment to help transform the Region into a business hub to create jobs and opportunities for its inhabitants.
The Western Regional Minister, Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, in a speech read for him, told the members to perform their duties with commitment, zeal, professionalism and fairness.
Dr Isaac Obbrem Kofi Sagoe, Chairman of the Commission, on behalf of the other members, promised to work diligently to ensure the proper administration of lands in the Region.
He promised that the team would ensure the digitization of all land documents to reduce the time of the processing of documents at the Commission.
GNA