Bottlenecks in land title registration to be removed

Cape Coast, July 16, GNA - Professor Dominic Fobih, Minister for Lands, Forestry and Mines, on Monday stated that the country would not achieve its dream of a "golden age of business" if the bottlenecks associated with the administration and management of land were not removed.

He said some land sector agencies, especially the Land Valuation Board, Survey Department and Lands Commission secretariat are to be re-organized into a new Lands Commission to facilitate easier land title registrations.

The Minister was inaugurating a 20-member Central Region Lands Commission at Cape Coast. The Commission, which was sworn-in by Mr Justice Erasmus Gyinayeh, the Supervising Cape Coast High Court Judge, is to among others things help to carve a better image for the Lands Commission, address land disputes and facilitate the attraction and retention of investors in the Region.

He stressed that the re-organization of the agencies under one body was being done in accordance with the implementation of the road-map for the Land Administration Programme (LAP), which is in the fourth year of implementation.

"The re-organization of some of the lands sector agencies have gone through wide consultation and currently a bill named Lands Commission Bill is before Cabinet for consideration, as soon as approval is given by cabinet the bill would be laid before Parliament to be passed into law", he said.

He told members of the Commission it would depend on bodies such as the Lands Commission to enable the government to realize its development aspirations and create an enabling environment for the private sector to help catapult the nation to a middle income level. Professor Fobih implored them to take keen interest in the reforms process while performing their functions under the current law, the Lands Commission Act 1994, Act 483.

Prof Fobih expressed concern that the Region was gradually gaining notoriety for land and chieftaincy disputes and urged the members to address the land disputes dispassionately and maintain "a fair balance and not be caught in the cross fire of chieftaincy".

He was happy that the Awutu-Effutu-Senya District was among the 23 districts benefiting from the Millennium Challenge Account and urged the members to take keen interest in the implementation of projects under it and at the same time, use the title registration as catalyst for the registration of interests throughout the Region.

In his welcoming address, Nana Ato Arthur, Regional Minister, underscored the importance of land in the socio-economic development of the nation and expressed concern about the encroachment on school sites and development on water ways.

He pointed out that land disputes and the phenomenon of "landguardism" were also gradually taking the centre of all land transactions, which he stressed were a source of worry to people who embark on development advocacy for the region.

The Regional Minister said the inauguration of the Commission should serve as a rebirth or renaissance that would help change the course or destiny as far as the management of the rich land resource in the Region was concerned.