The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has secured 100 per cent retention of Lands Commission’s internally generated funds, the Minister, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has said.
Out of that, he said 67 per cent would be used for the funding of the Land Bank and Digitalisation Project of the government.
“This initiative will serve as a catalyst to restore public confidence and ensure that public lands are managed transparently, responsibly, and for the benefit of present and future generations,” he said.
Task force
Addressing the press in Accra last Monday, Mr Buah said the ministry, in collaboration with the Lands Commission, would establish a Public Land Protection Task Force to safeguard public lands across the country.
He said the task force would operate within the framework of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, the Commission Act, 2008 (Act 767), the Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036), and all applicable criminal laws relating to trespass, unlawful entry, and illegal development.
It would comprise personnel from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Works, Housing and Water Resources, the Lands Commission, the Ghana Police Service and allied Security Services, and a selected private sector stakeholder with relevant technical expertise.
“The mandate of the task force will include preventing encroachment, halting unauthorised developments, and ensuring that public lands under review are protected from illegal occupation and development,” Mr Buah said.
Reforms
The establishment of the task force is part of reforms being undertaken by the government to safeguard public lands.
The reforms include the review of the public land application form (Form 5), review of the Lands Commission’s internal processes for public land allocation, legislating public land application reforms, revision of public land premiums and the compilation of market value data for defined land clusters.
The measures followed Cabinet’s approval of the recommendations of a committee set up on June 5, last year to review the lease of public lands.
Form 5
Mr Buah said one of the major findings of the committee was the inconsistent application of the Public Land Application Form across the Regional Lands Commissions and that the lack of uniformity resulted in discretionary practices and uneven standards in the allocation of public lands, thereby weakening transparency and accountability.
To address that, he said the ministry, in collaboration with the Lands Commission, had completed a comprehensive revision of Form 5.
The revised form will now serve as the single mandatory application instrument for all public land transactions nationwide, covering both re-applications arising from this exercise and all future applications.
Mr Buah said the revised Form 5 would be published on the Lands Commission’s official website and made available for public access within the coming weeks. Applicants will be able to download, complete, and submit the form electronically.
He said public lands were vested in the President in trust for the people of Ghana to be administered in the public interest and that they were meant to serve national development objectives, support public infrastructure, and promote equitable access to land.
“It is, therefore, our solemn responsibility to safeguard these lands from mismanagement, misuse, and unauthorised disposals.
“I wish to assure the people of Ghana that the Government remains fully committed to reforming and decentralising land administration in Ghana,” he said.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh
