The Government Assurances Committee of Parliament has strongly criticised the Lands Commission for its continued failure to provide crucial data on public lands and their utilisation over the years.
During a sitting on Wednesday, July 31, the committee highlighted that obtaining this information is essential for tackling fraudulent activities, such as the improper registration of government lands as private properties.
Committee chairman Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa expressed frustration over the two-year-long struggle to access these documents, stating, “If this data is put together and provided, it will help all of us.
These instances of government lands being registered as private lands and the fraud that is going on at the Lands Commission, as exposed by the Soul Enquirer, the only way to stem this, to prevent this, to forestall this, is to have the data, to put the data together.”
Ablakwa did not hold back in his critique, suggesting deliberate obstruction within the Lands Commission.
“That is why I am clear in my mind that there are elements at the Lands Commission who don’t want the Ghanaian people to have this data,” he asserted. His remarks reflect a deep-seated concern about transparency and accountability within the commission, underscoring the need for comprehensive data to safeguard public lands and prevent fraudulent activities.
Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor, offered some justification for the delay. Jinapor explained that the Lands Commission has been operating manually for years and only recently began efforts to digitise its records.
“The information I have from the Commission since I gave them the instructions to compile this list is that compiling the list from the 16 regions of the Lands Commission across the country from 1993 to now is an extraordinary undertaking and therefore they have not been able to put it all together as yet. And so I am unable to provide it now, but there is work in progress,” Jinapor stated.
