Official suggests ban on outright sale of land
The Chairperson of the Volta Regional Land Commission, Dr ( Mrs) Bernice Heloo, has appealed to the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, through the Land Administration Project (LAP 11), to enact legislation that would ban the outright and permanent sale of land anywhere in Ghana.
She said presently the laws of the country that allow chiefs, family Heads , individuals and other owners of land to sell land to people, companies or speculators in perpetuity must be amended to ensure that the future and younger generation could also have access to land.
Dr Heloo said this at the beginning of a two-day Orientation and Start-up workshop organized by the Land Administration Project (LAP 11) at Ho for Land Sector Agencies and other stakeholders in the Volta Region.
The programme also marked the formal launch of the second phase of the Land Administration Project in the Volta Region.
She said it was unfortunate that though there was a law which discouraged the free hold sale of land to foreigners, some Ghanaians exploited loopholes and fronted for foreigners to acquire huge tracts of lands most often cheaply from chiefs and other land owners to the detriment of the future of the country.
Dr. Isaac Bonsu Karikari, the National Project Coordinator of the Land Administration Project , said agriculture, forestry and mining that contribute about 70% of Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) all depended heavily on land and that the second phase of LAP would implement the key policy actions enshrined in the Ghana Land Policy of 1999 to address critical issues militating against effective land administration in the country.
He said the Project intended to deepen reforms to enable land sector agencies to be more responsive to clients, cut down the cost and time of doing business and provide an enabling environment to reflect an objective of an efficient and transparent service delivery and the removal of business process bottlenecks through process re-engineering and automation.
The Facilitator of the Orientation workshop, Mr. Adom Baisie Ghartey, told the participants that a more efficient land management system was required for natural and environmental management, food security and vulnerability monitoring , human settlement planning, transportation , social welfare and tourism development.
The second phase of the Land Administration Project was launched by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources in Kumasi on September 14.
The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has the overall responsibility for the implementation of the Land Administration Project funded by the World Bank, the Canadian International Development Agency and the Government of Ghana.
Source: GNA