The Minister of Lands and Forestry, Alhaji Collins Dauda, has expressed concern about the numerous land ownership disputes that have plagued the country over the years.
Disclosing that an average of 30,000 land cases go before the courts each year - which most often either take took long to dispose of or remain unsolved – the Minister reminded Ghanaians that land disputes had become the bane of the country’s development efforts.
At the individual level, land disputes are pursued at great cost to the litigants.
The land, meanwhile, idles unproductively, and the country, as a whole, suffers ultimately, thanks to the dubious activities of some of the staff of the almighty Lands Commission.
Over the years, Ghana has lost enormous resources, including human lives, money, and precious time. Affected lands have remained unused for decades.
Desperate owners of parcels of land, for fear of losing the land to others to whom chiefs and others may have made double sale, have engaged landguards to protect their lands, most often with dangerous consequences.
The tale has a long and unwinding end, the net effect of which has always made the owners, community and state poorer and poorer.
The Minister minced no words in putting the blame squarely at the doorsteps of the Lands Commission staff some of whom have specialized in complicating land acquisition procedures in order to feed fat on the confusion of land seekers.
For them, the more complicated the process, the better and the more lucrative.
That is why many Ghanaians took with a pinch of salt, the directive by the Greater Accra Regional Minister, a few months ago, to the effect that the land title registration process was to be effected within three months.
It must be acknowledged that not all the staff are guilty; indeed, there are some very hardworking and scrupulously honest ones there whose heart bleeds to see so much corruption in the organization.
It is estimated that there are more ‘goro boys’ at the Lands Commission than any other state agency, including self-proclaimed surveyors, contractors and builders.
Apart from hiding files, manipulating and mitigating of records, many have turned themselves into agents of various disputing parties who use various dirty tricks to misinterpret the laws of the land to deny others justice.
The Times agrees with the Minister’s admonition to officials of the Commission to do everything possible to improve their dirty public image, general staff indiscipline, poor work ethics and the corruption that has over the years characterised their operation.
The newly inaugurated members of the Commission must do well to review the processes and procedures for registering land, right from the preparation of site plans.
They should make it simpler and corruption-free for once in the life of this country.
The previous boards perhaps failed to achieve much because most of them became part of the problem they were expected to solve.
Their appointments to the commission must not be seen as a means to either rob or cheat mother Ghana through the connivance in shady and dirty deals as was witnessed in the past.
Will there ever be a time when the land acquisition process can be done in one year? We throw the challenge to the new Board.
As a first step, the Times wants the commission to make public education on the mode of acquiring land and its registration a high point of their activities.
Disclosing that an average of 30,000 land cases go before the courts each year - which most often either take took long to dispose of or remain unsolved – the Minister reminded Ghanaians that land disputes had become the bane of the country’s development efforts.
At the individual level, land disputes are pursued at great cost to the litigants.
The land, meanwhile, idles unproductively, and the country, as a whole, suffers ultimately, thanks to the dubious activities of some of the staff of the almighty Lands Commission.
Over the years, Ghana has lost enormous resources, including human lives, money, and precious time. Affected lands have remained unused for decades.
Desperate owners of parcels of land, for fear of losing the land to others to whom chiefs and others may have made double sale, have engaged landguards to protect their lands, most often with dangerous consequences.
The tale has a long and unwinding end, the net effect of which has always made the owners, community and state poorer and poorer.
The Minister minced no words in putting the blame squarely at the doorsteps of the Lands Commission staff some of whom have specialized in complicating land acquisition procedures in order to feed fat on the confusion of land seekers.
For them, the more complicated the process, the better and the more lucrative.
That is why many Ghanaians took with a pinch of salt, the directive by the Greater Accra Regional Minister, a few months ago, to the effect that the land title registration process was to be effected within three months.
It must be acknowledged that not all the staff are guilty; indeed, there are some very hardworking and scrupulously honest ones there whose heart bleeds to see so much corruption in the organization.
It is estimated that there are more ‘goro boys’ at the Lands Commission than any other state agency, including self-proclaimed surveyors, contractors and builders.
Apart from hiding files, manipulating and mitigating of records, many have turned themselves into agents of various disputing parties who use various dirty tricks to misinterpret the laws of the land to deny others justice.
The Times agrees with the Minister’s admonition to officials of the Commission to do everything possible to improve their dirty public image, general staff indiscipline, poor work ethics and the corruption that has over the years characterised their operation.
The newly inaugurated members of the Commission must do well to review the processes and procedures for registering land, right from the preparation of site plans.
They should make it simpler and corruption-free for once in the life of this country.
The previous boards perhaps failed to achieve much because most of them became part of the problem they were expected to solve.
Their appointments to the commission must not be seen as a means to either rob or cheat mother Ghana through the connivance in shady and dirty deals as was witnessed in the past.
Will there ever be a time when the land acquisition process can be done in one year? We throw the challenge to the new Board.
As a first step, the Times wants the commission to make public education on the mode of acquiring land and its registration a high point of their activities.
