Samuel Jinapor with members of the Northern Regional Lands Commission in a group picture in Tamale
Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has inaugurated the Northern Regional Board of the Lands Commission in Tamale in the Northern Region.
At the inaugural ceremony, the lands and Natural resources minister noted that the fast-growing nature of the Tamale metropolis and its environs imposed a heavy duty on the regional lands commission, working with relevant bodies, to ensure that access to land does not become a hindrance to development in the region.
“The consequences of ineffective, fraudulent and weak land administration are dire. As I have forcefully submitted they are arguably equal to, if not worse than, the adverse consequences of illegal mining.”
He stated that there has been the passage of the Lands Act,200(Act 1036), a comprehensive law that revises, harmonizes and consolidates all existing laws on land for sustainable land administration and management and effective and efficient land tenure.
“ This Act passed after almost decades of consultations gives us a good foundation for effective land administration. It must be your guiding document and you must ensure that all the provisions in this law are implemented to the latter and this can be achieved if all the stakeholders are conversant and understand what the law requires of them. Education on this law in the region should therefore be your priority.”
According to him, most of the lands in the region are owned by the skins and families, the establishment of customary land secretariat adding that the commission is enjoined by the law to collaborate with the administrators of stool lands to ensure the establishment of the secretariats for each skin, clan or family that owns the land.
He urged the Commission to put in place measures to ensure that government achieves its aim of reducing the turnaround time for the registration of land to a maximum of thirty (30) days.
“At the national level, we are in the process of implementing a major digitization programme to digitize all the records of the lands commission as a step towards achieving this turnaround time.”
The Lands and Natural Resources Minister said the two newly created Savannah and North East regions will be the meantime depend on the Northern Regional Lands Commission for leadership until such a time that they can stand on their own.
“You must support and collaborate with them to avoid duplicity of registration and transactions.”
He said one of the major issues is about the management and usage of public lands saying the lands commission enjoined by Article 258 of the national constitution to manage public lands and all lands so, therefore, the commission must ensure that the utilization of such lands does not bring disaffection among the original owners of the land.
“ Northern region must provide the needed leadership and inspiration for all of Northern Ghana for an efficient and progressive land administration which is anchored on integrity.”
The Board Chairman of the Northern Regional Lands Commission, Lawyer Dubik Mahama Yakubu, called on chiefs, opinion leaders and the people to support them to function properly and achieve good results.
He assured that the commission will work hard for the development Ghana as a whole.
Lawyer Dubik indicated that the lands commission is not a partisan institution and appealed that activities of the commission should not be politicized.
He thanked the overlord of Dagbon, Nidan Ya Naa, Abukari and all the Northern chiefs for their support and corporation over the years.
FROM Eric Kombat, Tamale