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Land Commission holds annual conference
Sunyani, April 17, Ghanadot/GNA – Mr
Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister on
Tuesday attributed the multiple sale and allocation of land
by traditional land owners to the mistrust and lack of
confidence of the public in the administration of the Land
Commission.
“The land agencies are often accused of corruption,
arrogance, inertia, red tapeism and un-professionalism”,
which he said had contributed to the introduction of land
guards, litigation and sometimes loss of lives and
properties.
Mr. Baffour-Awuah said this in a speech read for him at the
opening of the 2008 annual conference of the Land Commission
in Sunyani.
The four-day conference is on the theme: “Achieving the
goals of the citizens’ charter - A challenge for Lands
Commission”.
The Regional Minister explained that the unpleasant
perception of the public about the Commission has been
compounded by the activities of fraudsters, land contractors
and estate agents of dubious character who had found their
way into the land market and administration in the country.
The Land Commission is mandated to manage public lands,
monitor developments to ensure conformity with approved
planning schemes and the prevention of encroachments.
Mr Baffour-Awuah said the government appreciated the
problems and challenges in the land sector that were
hampering the country’s socio-economic development hence the
launch of the citizens’ charter for the Commission in
October last year.
“The citizens’ charter is a tool for facilitating the
delivery of services to citizens with specified standards,
quality and time frame with commitment from the
organizations and their clients,” the regional minister
added.
Mr. Baffour-Awuah charged the citizens’ charter to inspire
the Commission and its workers to attain optimum efficiency
and effectiveness in the management of public and other
lands through a robust land service delivery.
He challenged the Commission to take steps to ensure
sustainable management and development of land, accelerated
service delivery to the public and to adopt market approach
to land management and development.
Mr. Euslace Kumi-Bruce, Chairman of the National Lands
Commission, noted that the unhealthy competition for land
and the seemingly weak institutions involved in land
administration had resulted in land problems confronting the
country.
He mentioned the lack of planning schemes and development
control, obsolete operating procedures, low level of
adherence to planning and inadequate land records as some of
the major problems facing the sector.
He said these problems posed a threat to rapid urbanization
that also had serious implications for the management of
cities and towns.
He called for closer collaboration and coordination of all
land sector agencies as well as other stakeholders such as
traditional leaders, district assemblies and the judiciary
to deal with land administration problems in the country.
Alhaji Hamidu Ibrahim Baryeh, Executive Secretary of the
Lands Commission said the Commission was focusing on staff
attitudinal change, improvement in working conditions,
effective monitoring mechanisms and computerization of land
records to help improve service delivery in the Commission.
He said the Commission acknowledged that dependence on donor
funding alone could not completely address the key issues
and had initiated projects to revamp its operations.
These include funding from internally generated funds of the
Commission towards the construction of deeds registries in
Ho, Cape Coast, Tamale and Sunyani to help improve record
management.
He said the Commission had developed a modern
geo-information systems laboratory that is equipped to scan
central records and convert manual registers into digital
formats.
Alhaji Baryeh called for “a high dose of political support”
for the Commission to enable it to confront issues like
wanton encroachment on public lands, frivolous court suits
and haphazard development in the country.
GNA
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