A Civil Society Organisation, OccupyGhana, has called on the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, to stop the release of public lands and render account to Ghanaians.
The Group revealed that it had earlier in a letter dated May 18, 2022, made its intention known that it was not in the national interest to release any lands to the original owners, “while urging the government to freeze all planned releases of public lands and audit all lands that it holds”. It explained that government needs to come up with a clear national strategy on the use to which those lands are being or will be put to serve the national developmental goals.
Contained in a statement addressed to the Lands Minister, OccupyGhana indicated that as fiduciaries of public lands, both the Lands Minister and the Lands Commission cannot take actions that “jeopardise the trust imposed on you by the Constitution”.
“Sir, we firmly believe that the land releases are illegal and unconstitutional, and we call upon the Government to immediately reverse such releases and make room for a national debate on this matter. Simply put, you are not allowed to arbitrarily dispose of the family silver and heirlooms without accounting to us, the true owners.”
OccupyGhana
OccupyGhana emphasized that the Lands Minister has no power to “dispose of our lands FOR NOTHING and FOREVER”, and without due account to the citizens of Ghana. It further noted that, Mr Jinapor cannot engage in the direct management of public lands, as his role is limited to “making the binding written general policy directions to the Lands Commission”.
“We therefore challenge the Government to publish its policy governing these land releases, justifying why it is disposing of the citizens’ allodial title FOR NOTHING and FOREVER, showing all the relevant factors and considerations that informed such a policy.”
OccupyGhana
Publish policy on land releases
According to OccupyGhana, it is only when the policy governing the land release are made public will it allow citizens, on “whose behalf those lands are held in trust”, to participate in the ensuing debate and to ensure that the trustees and managers do not have an “unbridled power” on how to handle that trust property.
“Your duty as constitutionally composed fiduciaries demands that you act in the best interest of Ghanaians. You therefore have to explain to us how these land releases that deprive the citizens of their allodial title to the lands FOR NOTHING and FOREVER, is in our best interest. Your added constitutional duty to be accountable requires and expects you to justify your actions and decisions to those to whom you owe that duty; the people.”
OccupyGhana
The group observed that the Land Ministry in a press statement dated May 24, 2022 announced an “audit of the Achimota Forest Reserve lands”. Responding on the same date to state that the audit should cover all public lands released from 7th January 1993, OccupyGhana noted that while waiting to hear from the Minister, it has “seen correspondence that shows that the Government is engaged in even more release of lands, this time in Kumasi”. It maintained that there is the need to restate “our vehement disagreement” with these land releases.
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