Mahama directs Lands Commission to undertake audit of state lands allocated from 2017-2024 

President John Dramani Mahama has directed the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources and the Lands Commission to immediately undertake a comprehensive audit of all state lands allocated, leased, or sold, particularly between 2017 and 2024.  

The President said the audit would cover lands acquired for schools, hospitals, and public institutions, forests, and ecological zones, and lawfully converted to private use in a transaction tainted by conflict of interest, abuse of power, or political patronage. 

“Where illegality or impropriety is discovered, such transactions will be reversed, and the land will be recovered to the government by law,” he said.  

“We’re not on a witch hunt. Those who have legally acquired land through proper processes need not fear. This exercise is about fairness and justice.” 

The President gave the directive on Tuesday, when he formally inaugurated a 26-Member Governing Board of the National Lands Commission, which is under the Chair of Dr Wordsworth Odame Larbi, at the Presidency in Accra. 

President Mahama said the Sale of State Lands Committee had begun its work and would soon submit its findings.  

He said that report would serve as a blueprint for rethinking the management, allocation, and protection of state lands. 

“To transform land administration, we must move from paper to platform bureaucracy, from paper platform bureaucracy to speed and digitization,” he stated. 

He tasked the Lands Commission to digitize all land records nationwide, building on the enterprise land information system. 

He charged the Commission to integrate services across Registries, Valuation, and Survey Departments. 

He also charged it to introduce blockchain technology to prevent tampering with land data and decentralize operations by establishing functional land offices in all the 261 Metropolitan and Municipal and District Assemblies.  

He said over 300 qualified young professionals would be recruited and deployed to support the decentralization effort. 

The President said these districts offices would become the frontline of citizen-friendly land service delivery.  

“Our goal is clear. No land document should take more than 30 working days to process,” the President said. 

“And no Ghanaian should have to pay bribes or know someone at the top to be able to register their land.  

“Corruption within the Lands Commission will no longer be tolerated or treated indifferently.” 

He said he expects the new Commission’s leadership to institute strict internal accountability measures; declaring that it must not shield corrupt staff or compromise your integrity.  

“Let this new Commission be one of work ethics, transparency, and discipline. The days of absenteeism in Lands Commission’s file manipulation and deliberate delays to exact bribes must ended,” he said. 

The President said revenue generated by the Commission from ground rents, premium, and other services must be properly accounted for and used to enhance service delivery and not for personal enrichment.  

He said the Government also recognizes that over 80 per cent of the land in Ghana was currently under customary tenure, and therefore, they seek a new social compact between the state and traditional authorities, a partnership built on mutual respect and shared responsibility. 

He said their reforms would therefore ensure that all customary land transactions were digitally registered and publicly accessible.  

The President said the Government’s reforms would provide training and technical support to traditional leaders in how to administer their lands, guarantee equitable land access for women, youth, and vulnerable groups, and promote fair distribution of revenues from natural resources to affected communities. 

Touching on unregulated urban sprawl, encroachment on public lands, poor fiscal planning, fueling floods, congestion, and environmental degradation, the President said the Land Commission must work closely with the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority and MMDAs to enforce zoning and planning regulations to protect public lands, reserves for schools, clinics, markets, and green spaces, to integrate land use planning with our national development priorities.  

Adding that urban development must be guided and not improvised.  

Dr Wordsworth Odame Larbi, the Chairperson of the Governing Board of the National Lands Commission, on behalf of his colleagues thanked the President for giving them the privilege to serve the nation. 

Source: GNA  

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