Ghana begins to review all compulsory acquired lands

Mr. Mike Hammah, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, on Wednesday said the government had began a process of reviewing all compulsory acquired lands by the state with the view to revising the executive instruments covering those lands which are not needed by the state.

He said this in an address read for him at an orientation workshop on the second Ghana Land Administration Project (LAP-2) for members of the Western Regional House of Chiefs at Sekondi.

Mr. Hammah said after finalizing the inventory of such lands, Cabinet approval would be sought for the lands to be released through formal legal processes.

He said the government is committed to paying systematically for all the outstanding compensation for lands to be retained after
determination of ownership of the lands.

Mr. Hammah said some investors had acquired or are acquiring large tracks of land that might make some indigenes “landless” in future.

“We need to be circumspect in managing our resources well without being driven by monetary gain alone”, he said.

Mr. Hammah said giving out large tracks of lands without entering into any form of equity could be a disincentive to the Ghanaian economy in general and the people in particular.

He said this calls for a great deal of restraint in order to avoid the situation where land speculators could come in to cause distortions in the land market.

Source: GNA