AVOID UNDUE FRUSTRATIONS ...Minister tells Lands Commission staff (PAGE 20)

THE Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Collins Dauda, has called on the staff of the Lands Commission to adhere strictly to their work ethics to avoid creating unnecessary frustrations and bottlenecks in the acquisition and development of land.
He warned that the government would not tolerate any negative practices that posed a threat to effective land management and administration in the country.
Alhaji Dauda made the call during the inauguration of a 24-member reconstituted Northern Regional Lands Commission in Tamale.
The inauguration forms part of the key reforms in the land sector. The Commission is chaired by Mr. Simaila Alhassan with the Regional Lands Office with Mr. George Okwabi Frimpong as its secretary. The other members are made up of traditional rulers, surveyors, civil servants and lawyers, among others.
The minister stressed that “reforms in themselves do not necessarily bring change in the attitude of the staff but rather it is the people involved in the implementation process”.
“What the people of Ghana expect is a stress-free process for registering land and it is therefore expected that the commission will reduce the bureaucracy, inefficiencies and frustrations of the public” he pointed out.
Alhaji Dauda equally observed that the granting of large stretches of land for commercial agriculture and the feedstock for biofuel production were some of the challenges facing land management in the region.
He charged the regional lands commission to help provide the necessary framework and modalities for granting the lands and to ensure that the rights of the vulnerable were protected.
According to him, it was imperative for the commission to educate land owners to register their lands.
That way, he said, the commission could help improve on security of tenure which would in turn attract investors into the region.
The Northern Regional Minister, Mr. Stephen Nayina, in a speech read on his behalf by his Deputy, Mr. Moses Magbengba, entreated the members to “constantly take advice from the technical men within the various divisions of the commission to ensure effective and efficient land administration process in the region.
“Article 258 and 260 of the constitution have put an enormous responsibility on your shoulders as managers of the second most important resource,” Mr. Nayina pointed out.
He further told the members to, as a matter of urgency, help resolve such issues as multiple claims, undetermined boundaries and boundary disputes.
Mr Alhassan, in his acceptance speech, pledged on behalf of his colleagues to “ensure equitable access to land for the benefit of our people and the nation as a whole”.
“I assure you that the Northern Regional Lands Commission would adopt a participatory approach and endeavour to be proactive and contribute its quota to the attainment of success for the mission and vision of the new Lands Commission,” he added.
In a related development, Mr Ford Kamel, Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, has inaugurated the Central Regional Lands Commission.
The 23-member commission has Rev. Mrs Helena Swanzy Essel as its Chairperson. They were sworn in by Mr Justice Justine Dorgu, a Cape Coast High Court Judge.