The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Dome/Kwabenya in Accra, Adwoa Safo, has expressed serious concern about the high number of land cases before the courts.
She therefore appealed to the Judicial Service to quickly deal with all such cases to bring sanity in the land administration of the country.
According to the Judicial Service, there are currently 7,122 land cases of different categories pending before the high courts and the circuit courts throughout the country.
Ms Adwoa Safo, who was making a contribution in a debate on the report of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of parliament which captured the performance audit report of the phase one of the Land Administration Project (LAP 1) yesterday, said the delay in disposing of land cases in court is frustrating individuals and corporate bodies who want to contribute to the development of the country.
She said that when land cases delay in courts they come with huge costs to the litigants involved, adding that this could eventually defeat the purpose for which the lands are acquired.
“It is time the Judicial Service dealt with land cases before the courts to restore some confidence in the court system,” she urged.
The MP for Old Tafo, Kumasi, Dr Anthony Akoto Osei, said that out of the $55 million approved by parliament for the LAP 1 programme, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources spent $816,000 on the drafting of the Land Use and Planning Bill as well as the Land Bill – which are components of the LAP 1 programme – instead of the budgeted $196,000 for that purpose.
He said the explanation given by the ministry that the money increased because of the elaborate consultations and processes involved while the ministry had to engage legal experts and international and local consultants for the project, is not tenable.
“Mr Speaker, this money is a loan facility which the country has to pay interest on; and if we are not careful, we may not be able to meet the target for which the loan was contracted,” he cautioned.
Dr Akoto Osei said there was need to review the whole project since feasibility studies were not done before the project started
The minority leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, said there was the need for the government to come out with the Land Bill to help in the administration of lands in the country and for it to be able to take proper stock of all state lands.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr