Koforidua, July 14, GNA – A reconstituted 39-member Eastern Regional Lands Commission has been inaugurated with a call on members to work towards removing bottlenecks bedevilling land administration in the Region.
Mr Benito Owusu-Bio, Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, who inaugurated the team said, the role of land in Ghana’s economy was of great significance and that without sound tenure security and appropriate land management principles, “there can be no sustainable development”.
This is because there would be little or no willingness by both local and foreign investors to make long term investments.
Mr Owusu-Bio charged the Commissioners to be fully guided by the Lands Commission Act, 2008 (Act 767) and the Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036) by ensuring “there is equity in the functional responsibilities and privileges of all the divisions of the Commission”.
He enumerated several peculiar challenges of land administration in Eastern Region including the destruction of the environment through illegal mining or “galamsey” and chain saw operations with its attendant negative effect on water bodies.
Others were conflict between customary landowners and lessees of public land areas, as well as conflicting search reports and double registrations, with its attendant rapid development of properties without regard to planning schemes and encroachment on public lands.
“I must say that in dealing with these issues, diplomacy and firmness ought to be the key qualities that must be exhibited by this new Lands Commission,” Mr Owusu-Bio said during the inauguration on Tuesday.
While believing the mix in professional backgrounds of the members could help tackle the problems head-on, he also charged them to collaborate with relevant stakeholders to further push the fight against activities like “Galamsey” and chain saw operations.
The Deputy Minister who is also the Member of Parliament for Atwima-Nwabiagya in Ashanti Region expressed concern about illegal activities destroying the environment and many major river bodies and forest reserves and urged the ERLC members to take stern action against encroachment on public lands to ensure uninterrupted execution of public projects.
“My Ministry will support every effort aimed at eradicating these challenges,” he said, stressing: “The Commission must be the eye of government in this regard and the Ministry will provide the needed backing.”
He also said one of the major tasks of the ERLC would be to comply with the provisions of section 270 of Act 1036, which deals with the de-vesting of vested lands.
“I am reliably informed that Koforidua and Nkawkaw townships are all vested, it will be your duty to liaise with the secretariat and other relevant agencies to ensure that this mandate that Act 1036 has placed on the Regional Lands Commission is dealt with,” he added.
“It is also important for the Commission to devise an effective communication strategy to educate the public on the new Lands Act 2020 (Act 1036).”
He expressed his Ministry’s gratitude to the immediate past members of the Eastern Regional Lands Commission (ERLC) for their good work done in fostering effective land administration in the region, saying, “Your stewardship is worth commending”.
He described the land as both a physical commodity and an abstract concept, so its stewardship was therefore essential for present and future generations, saying: “This is giving full effect by the good old traditional Ghanaian adage that land is for the ancestors, the living and generations yet unborn”.
He said for land management in Eastern Region to be effective it would be based on the pieces of advice and guidance of the Commission.
Mr Seth Kwame Acheampong, Eastern Regional Minister, also raised concern about numerous challenges facing the land administration regime in Ghana, but added, “It is the desire of Government to support the Lands Commission to deal with these bottlenecks to make land transactions easy”.
“The Government is keen on ameliorating the challenges confronting the land sector,” he stressed.
He was also optimistic the Commission would be able to drive government policies in fulfilment of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s vision of stabilising land administration in the country.
Members of the Commission took the oaths of office, allegiance and secrecy, pledging to dispatch their duties with due diligence within their mandate.
Mr Kofi Dankwa Osei, Chairman of ERLC, told the Ghana News Agency the Commission’s priority was to immediately disseminate the new Land Act by carrying out intensive public education.
He described the Act as an important document that the public ought to be adequately informed about its content and support the Commission to tackle bottlenecks in the land sector.
GNA