By Mohammed Balu
Tumu, (UW/R), Sept. 08, GNA – Mr Yahaya Abdul Wahab, the Deputy Municipal Officer, Lands Commission, has encouraged landlords to ensure leaseholders pay grant rent, which can benefit them as landlords.
He said the grant rent: “is split between the Lands Commission, Assembly and a part goes to the landowners”, and advised the landlords to enquire about their grant rent from the regional office of the Lands Commission.
Mr Abdul Wahab said this in Tumu in the Sissala East Municipality at a meeting with landlords from various sections and traditional areas in the Sissala East and West Districts organized by the Customary Land Secretariat under the Tumu paramountcy.
He also encouraged landlords to submit three other principal names of their families to witness all land transactions each time land was sold out.
“One key function of the Lands Commission is establishing a land right information system to help us know who owns which land in the community by knowing the principal elders of the sections as this will instill discipline and order in land management”, he stated.
Mr Abdul Wahab advised the landowners against making children signatories at the expense of elders of the families who own lands.
Naa Kofi Kuntolo, the Principal Technical Planning Officer, Town and Country Planning Department, urged the landowners to allow for the zoning and planning of their lands with a planning scheme, which made land administration easier.
He pointed out that “unzoned areas cannot be leased as it could lead to slum settlement in terms of planning scheme”.
Naa Kuntolo also encouraged the landowners to engage qualified surveyors to survey their lands before selling them to the public.
Mr Kaderi Aduna, the Administrator of the Tumu Customary Land Secretariat said: “Since January 2022 to date, there has not been any reported issue of double land sale, which used to be a concern.”
He announced that the office has put in place software that contains all the information on lands transacted.
Mr Osman Kanton, the Chairman of the Tumu Customary Land Secretariat, indicated that about 70 per cent of Ghana’s land area was family or stool lands, and said there was a need for landlords to open and keep files with the Lands Commission.
Mr Kanton warned landowners against the double sale of land and referred them to the Land Act on the management of stool and skin lands.
Section 13(3 and 4) on the management of stool lands said: “Landowners and those managing the clan and family lands should be transparent, open, fair and impartial in making a decision affecting the specified land”.
He noted that a fiduciary who contravenes sub-section 2 of the Lands Act committed an offense and was liable to summary conviction to a fine of not less than 5000 penalty units and not more than 10,000 penalty units or imprisonment of not less than five years and not more than ten years or both.
GNA