Samuel Abu Jinapor
The ongoing one-week retreat organised by the Lands Commission for stakeholders in the administration of land is appropriate.
Any engagement which would instill efficiency in land administration in the country is good.
We could not hold back our excitement about this fresh effort towards seeking a way out of the Gordian knot as represented by land acquisition in the country.
There has been a sense of hopelessness in the face of failed searches for solutions to land acquisition challenges in the country especially Accra. Many are they who have burnt their fingers in their quest for land to put up shelters and for commercial purposes. Indeed, some have even lost their lives and others continue to endure the inconveniences of land litigation.
Talk of land in Ghana and double sale of the asset, land guards, prolonged preparation of land title and fictitious documents come to mind.
The Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Samuel Abu Jinapor’s charge to the stakeholders to change the narrative in the lands administration story is an appropriate admonition when the ideal regime is yet to be achieved.
We have reached the bridge but still unable to traverse it which is why the various interventions are yet to achieve the desired dividends.
With digitisation leading the march in all human endeavours, it is beyond comprehension that we are still wandering in the wilderness of land acquisition.
Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia announced to our excitement last year the digitisation of land administration in the country. We saw in that novelty an effective initiative which will take us out of the current outmoded approaches to this subject.
With the application of the appropriate technology especially digitisation, the services of land guards will be rendered useless and the double sale of lands, painful and inconveniencing litigation would be confined to the dark pages of our history.
As to why the situation prevails, the answer is not far-fetched. The human interface is a source of corruption, a situation those who benefit from it would ensure prevails.
The more difficult it is to register lands, the more money unscrupulous persons make.
We do not know whether traditional authorities were represented on the lineup of invitees during the conference. If they were not, we would advise that in future, they should be considered because of their involvement in the land acquisition chain.
Some of the challenges experienced in the matter of land acquisition originate from the traditional authorities. It is appropriate therefore, that they are brought on board when solutions are being sought for the challenges of land administration in the country.