The Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Benito Owusu-Bio, has revealed that concerted efforts are required to transform Ghana’s land administration.
According to him, stakeholders must play their respective roles in making land administration in Ghana better.
“I can assure you that the political will exists, but the government alone cannot do it. We need the concerted effort of everyone, else this conference would have been a waste of time. Let us come together to play our respective roles to make land administration better. We have the political will to transform land administration.”
Benito Owusu-Bio
Speaking at the closing of the maiden edition of the 4-day National Land Conference, Mr Owusu-Bio indicated that after three impactful high-level policy dialogues, and over 20 presentations during technical sessions, he is confident that most, if not all of the objectives of the conference have been met.
Having played an instrumental role in organizing the conference, Hon. Benito Owusu-Bio assured that the next step for the Ministry is to continually coordinate and facilitate the implementation of recommendations from the conference.
He indicated that the report emanating from the conference shall inform the next steps that the Ministry and its agencies in collaboration with the development partners and Civil Society Organizations will take in view of making land administration more transparent and efficient.
The deputy lands minister equally urged all participants to employ the same level of passion with which they have discussed the issues to implement the proposed solutions.
“We will immediately commence steps to establish a multi-stakeholder platform to monitor the implementation of the Conference recommendations.”
Benito Owusu-Bio
Mr Owusu-Bio expressed his appreciation to all the partners and sponsors of the conference, including the stakeholders from Academia, Civil Society, Revered Chiefs and Queens, Public Sector and Private Sector land professionals, and government representatives for their participation in the conference.
On his part, the National Chairman of the Lands Commission, Mr. Alex Quaynor assured that all the information gathered from their deliberations at the conference will be used to review the 1999 land policy and bring out concrete plans to be put to action.
He stated that as far as the mandate to ensure the proper administration of the country’s land resource is concerned, they will await next instructions from the Ministry and government to put them into effect.
Recommendations from 4-day National land conference
As recommendations, the 4-day conference among others, called on government to prioritize the systematic surveying and mapping of customary and state land boundaries and the boundaries of metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to reduce the numerous land ownership disputes in the country.
The ministry also underscored the need to set out comprehensive program for the registration of title in land as mandated by the 1992 constitution and the Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036).
It also beckoned government to comprehensively map the country at large, medium and small scales to facilitate land use planning and spatial development for rapid economic development and provide resources for a holistic and participatory approach to land use planning.
The conference recommendation also seeks government’s efforts to support all of key stakeholders to raise awareness of the citizenry on the Land Use and Spatial Planning Act, 2016 (Act 925) and the Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036).
It will be recalled that President Akufo-Addo, speaking at the opening of the National Lands Conference in Accra on December 7, 2022, charged the Lands Commission to ensure the Commission goes fully digital.
President Akufo-Addo underscored the importance of land to socio-economic development. He stated that virtually all human activities revolve around land, with some ninety percent (90%) of the population depending directly or indirectly on land for their livelihoods. That is why, the President explained, Government prioritized the passage of the Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036), which has been in the draft stage for over twenty (20) years.
The Conference was organized by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and the Lands Commission, in partnership with the Department of Land Economy of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and COLANDEF, with support from GIZ and the German Cooperation.
Following this, President commended the Lands Commission for moving some of its services online, but said it is still unacceptable that the Commission still operates largely manual in this age of technology.
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