By P.K.Yankey
Atuabo (W/R), November 17, GNA-DLA Investment Limited, a real estate company in Ghana, has organised a day’s workshop for traditional rulers in the Eastern Nzema Traditional Area to establish Customary Land Secretariat to manage and document lands under customary ownership.
It was organised in collaboration with the Lands Commission and Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands (OASL),
Mr Joseph Amoah, Compliance Manager at DLA Investment Limited, said the sensitisation workshop was to help put litigations to rest and ensure jurisprudence in the land administration in the country.
“Compensation claims of the Ghana National Gas Company Limited, which had not been claimed, will be claimed with the help of the Secretariat”, he added.
He said the Secretariat would register the land and liaise with the Lands Commission for the OASL to collect the royalties.
Mr Amoah said the Secretariat had qualified surveyors to undertake boundary plans, which was a clear land transaction map to demarcate boundaries.
The Secretariat would serve as a Disputes Resolution Center to minimise land cases in court, adding that the law mandated traditional rulers to settle cases themselves.
Touching on the benefits of the Secretariat, the Compliance Manager said it would create employment to indigenes in the area, adding that it would also attract iInvestors to invest in the area to spearhead development.
Mr Amoah said qualified staff, well-grounded in land administration, would manage the Secretariat to uplift the traditional administration to exercise oversight responsibility over the lands.
The Customary Land Secretariat would ensure the digitalisation of lands in the area.
Awulae Raale Arvo Nyima III, Paramount Queen Mother of the Eastern Nzema Traditional Area noted that the customary land secretariat would streamline land administration and put to rest land litigations.
She indicated that, “land litigations begin to rear its ugly heads when development comes to an area” and said traditional rulers would team up with the Secretariat to avoid conflicts in land transactions to pave way for development of the Paramountcy.
Nana Nyamekeh Fofole, Chief of Ampain and a member of the Standing Committee, asked DLA Investment Limited to continue to engage the traditional council to gain deep insight into land administration.
He expressed wary on land acquired under “compulsory acquisition” by government which was not used after some years and urged the Secretariat to streamline issues on that clause to ensure that the land gets back to the allodial owners.
Mr Roger Ofori Zogblah Assembly Member for Atuabo said the government since 2022 had mandated every paramountcy to establish a customary land secretariat.
He thanked DLA Investment Limited for the team spirit to sanitise land transactions in the country.
GNA
Edited by Justina Paaga/Linda Asante Agyei