Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh addressing the gathering
THE MINISTER of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr. Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh, has indicated that government is keenly working on making the country shift to automated environment land title registration.
According to him, this would help improve security of land tenure, adding that “it is expected to be optimized with the integration of the Ghana Enterprise Land Information System which is envisaged to inculcate efficiency in land information management”.
The minister indicated that government remains opened in terms of adopting proven methods that seem to enhance delivery of land services, adding that in this regard, this special policy documentation would be laid before Cabinet in the coming days.
He believes that this will also ensure a standard reference point for all manner of special data works.
He was speaking at a stakeholder’s workshop organised by Colandef with support and funding from Omidyar Network. It was under the theme: “Convening of policy actors on Omidyar Network support; interventions in Ghana’s land sector.”
He said Ghana’s economy is primarily agricultural base, and it is heavily reliant on natural resources which bring into focus the pivotal role of lands as a crucial resource for socio-economic development.
He intimated that in the face of an increasing demand for lands in meeting rapid population growth, high rate of urbanization and increasing investor interest today and the effect of weak land governance system can only be amplified and adequately addressed.
He noted that government recognizes these challenges and has progressively introduced initiatives and other marked efforts to resolve them.
The minister asserted that the concerns had been noted and would be addressed in the next phase and also in the new land bill.
He was of the view that the lands commission had developed a large-scale land acquisition to help outline all the due processes required for large-scale land acquisition to be carried out in fair, transparent, inclusive and responsible ways, adding that they had also identified a window of opportunity to develop a legislative instrument using extracts from the guidelines.
“Sanctions have been recommended in this regard for investors who go contrary to the agreement. At the moment, the process is at a consideration stage, including inputs from the Attorney-General’s department”, he revealed.
He therefore called for an all-inclusive effort from various stakeholders to effectively collaborate in order to achieve one common goal.
Mr. Asomah-Cheremeh seized the opportunity to commend Omidyar Network, Colandef, Meridia and Micro Aerial Project for their unflinching support in contributing to the common goals of creating an environment that protects people’s rights and interests.
According to him, Ghana as well as the New Patriotic Party is grateful for their immense contributions, adding that government would always have its doors opened to their partners for collaboration at all times.
From Vincent Kubi, Tema