Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia yesterday took the Lands Commission by storm when he paid an unannounced visit to the place.
He observed that the process of registration of land in Ghana is a big issue.
“We have been living with this problem for years but we are not changing it,” he wondered, insisting, “It is time for us to change the system. In many countries, land acquisition is key in the development of the country. In Ghana, land is not part of the process in many cases and that does not develop the mortgage market.”
One thing that became obvious to him and his team was the fact that the Land Title Registry has a serious challenge regarding the storage of documents.
Dr Bawumia said he was aware of some work being done on a new office and therefore, gave his word to ensure that it is completed for use in due course.
That, he said, was because the president’s vision of moving Ghana beyond aid would be greatly hindered if land registration challenges were not dealt with.
“Ghana will not be able to move beyond aid if we do not tackle the land problem. There is so much land for which no one can extract equity out of. At least 70% of lands in Accra do not have title and that is the reality,” Dr Bawumia noted.
To this end, he indicated that land acquisition and registration in Ghana would soon see a big shake-up to bring digital changes to the process essentially to arrest the challenges Ghanaians go through to purchase land.
As part of efforts to bring change to the Commission, the vice president hinted of a total digital integration of the land acquisition process.
A land conference aimed at bringing all stakeholders in the land sector is therefore expected to be held on February 28, 2018 to reach a compromise on the way forward for the land sector.
The land forum would take important decisions in areas such as valuation of property, digitalization of property, search processes and consolidation of records in all land agencies.
Dr Bawumia hinted that consultations would soon be held with the Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo, on conflicting judgements concerning certain lands in the country and the way forward to get the conflicts resolved.
“We are going to also have some discussions with the Chief Justice on some of the conflicting judgements across different courts. I think it is very important for us to do so,” he underscored.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent