MINISTER RAISES VOICE...

A Deputy Minister of Lands, Forestry and Mines, Mr Andrew Adjei-Yeboah, has expressed concern about the multiple sale of lands resulting in protracted land litigation and armed conflicts, some of which have claimed many lives in the country.
“Our land administration system has been fraught with several problems which have diverted enormous resources away from development projects and consequently slowed down national progress,” Mr Adjei-Yeboah noted in a speech read on his behalf at the inauguration of six pilot Customary Land Secretariats (CLSs) for the three northern regions in Tamale.
The six CLSs are located in Damongo and Bamboi in the Northern Region, Bolgatanga, Bongo and Paga in the Upper East Region and Sagmaalu in the Upper West Region. The new CLSs have been provided with computers, office furniture, cabinets, printers, photocopiers and motorbikes, among other facilities.
That brings the total number of CLS pilot programmes in the country to 38.
According to Mr Adjei-Yeboah, the government would continue to build the capacity of the pilot secretariats that had been established through training programmes. Other interventions from the government, he said, included capacity building for alternative dispute resolution and regularisation of title to lands.
“In spite of the abundance of land and natural resources the nation could not be counted among the developed and affluent countries in the world,” he expressed regret.
That, he said, was because “we have failed to harness the potentials of land, due to poor management, record keeping, indeterminate boundaries and generally poor land administration systems”.
“The successes of these secretariats substantially depends on the customary landowners; it is, therefore, expected that all beneficiaries, be they stools, skins, traditional councils, tindambas, clans and families, would ensure that the offices receive the necessary attention and financial support for sustainability,” Mr Adjei-Yeboah stated.
The Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, observed that land issues in the region had for a long time been taken for granted.
“The time has now come for us to re-consider the issue more critically and as custodians of the land you must acquaint yourself with new land policy, tenure security and transparency,” he pointed out.
The Regional Land Administration Project (LAP) Co-ordinator, Mr Felix Odum-Boadu, noted that the establishment of the CLS was a way of formalising traditional land administration.
He urged traditional areas to come on board and in the near future lobby for the establishment of their own CLS.