Kumasi, July 10, GNA – Mr Samuel A. Jinapor, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, has urged the Regional Offices of the Lands Commission to tackle the challenges inhibiting an effective land administration system.
He said the Commission needed to work diligently to address inefficiencies, fraud and delays in land acquisition and registration.
“It is the duty of the Lands Commission to promote the judicious use of land in accordance with sustainable management practices,” he emphasized.
Mr Jinapor, who was inaugurating the re-constituted Ashanti Regional Lands Commission in Kumasi, tasked the members to ensure that land development issues conform with the nation’s development goals.
He said, “the majority of the people continued to be dissatisfied and highly frustrated with land administration in the country.”
Therefore, the Ministry looked up to the Commission to provide the people with the much-needed leadership and solutions for effective implementation of the government’s reforms to harmonize and sanitize the land administration system, he said.
“The time to get on and come with the grips of land administration is now.
“We cannot continue with business as usual. Let us be honest,” the Minister said.
According to him, Article 258 of the 1992 Constitution enjoined the Commission to, amongst others, see to the effective administration of land and formulate national policies for the management of the natural resource.
The Regional Offices of the Lands Commission, the Minister noted, should live up to expectation and address their peculiar problems in fulfilment of their mandate.
Mr Simon Osei-Mensah, the Regional Minister, lauded the government for the construction of an ultra-modern office to serve as a one-stop facility for all the key land sector reforms under the Land Administration Project (LAP).
“Today, the Regional Lands Commission can be cited as the only true model of the one-stop-shop concept in Ghana,” he noted.
The initiative, the Regional Minister said, was a step in the right direction given the area’s significant contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), especially agriculture, mining, commerce, tourism and real estate.