The Chief Executive Officer of KOANS Estates, Mr. Kofi Anokye, has asked the Lands Commission to partner with private entities in helping develop a proper digitized record and data keeping system in order to make things simpler with regards to land registration.
Speaking at a panel discussion organized by Imani Centre for Policy and Education, to address the challenges of property registration in Ghana, he made this suggestion as part of his contribution.
“If we have to digitize our land administrative system, I will suggest that we join the private… Private partnership must come in, in the sense that I cannot kill myself with my own knife. If I have to kill or if somebody have to die, why do I have to kill myself? So that is what is happening to Lands Commission at the moment and they are the source of all our predicament so far as land acquisition issues are concerned.
“For example we are talking about people who haven’t decided to go and do their registration at the Lands Commission, but then if everybody is to go to Lands Commission, to do his or her registration, go through the issue, do survey work, do…If I am a land owner and the chief is somewhere and after going through all this tedious processes, my records cannot be trusted or can change tomorrow, why the need for me to do those investments.”
Independent consultant, Dr. Yaw Adarkwah Antwi speaking on the panel recommended that the country needed a system that will capture interest of land holder.
He also suggested that, the system must be decentralized in order to make registration more convenient and accessible to people who want to register their lands.
Touching on the digitization aspect, he admonished the people in charge to “think out of the box” in order to bring out an effective system.
“We want a system that is costless as possible for the transactor to get the information into the system.”
Director for Special Projects at the Lands Commission, Mr Benjamin Quaye also contributing added that, moving forward his organization will introduce a systematic approach to record land registration.
“We are going to fly the whole country in auto photo… what we call digital autophoto and geographical maps that will serve as a base for planning and identifying all parcels of land.”
He also said with regards to some challenges in lands registration and the search for information, the judiciary also plays a role.
“Conflicting judgement on the same piece of land, given to different parties and that is one of the contributing factors to the reason why you do a search tomorrow,…because you do a search today, the next day you do a search and the supreme court comes and says it is not for lawyer Oppong, it is for another person. So clearly the Lands Commission is forced to amend the records.”
