The Central Regional Office of the Lands Commission on Wednesday, April 3, 2024 held an urgent and significant stakeholders’ engagement with the Chiefs and elders of the Gomoa and Effutu enclaves to among other things discuss certain important Land Management issues affecting the areas.
The well attended meeting brought together dignitaries including the Paramount Chiefs for the Effutu and Gomoa Ajumako Traditional Areas as well as the Municipal and District Chief Executives for the Effutu, Gomoa East and Gomoa Central Assemblies.
The meeting focused on ironing out land related issues by sensitizing participants on the Lands Act, 2020 (Act 1036) to help reduce land litigations and incidents of violence brought about as a result of misunderstandings arising from land issues in the affected areas.
The Act revises and consolidates previous enactments on Lands into a single law, with the view to ensuring sustainable land administration and management, and effective and efficient land tenure.
Addressing the Meeting, Board Chairman for the Lands Commission in the Central Region, Mr. Kwame Kwaasi Danso took the participants through the processes of acquiring and registering lands including Large scale land acquisition and registration.
According to him, acquiring a Large-Scale Land required the buyer to engage in vigorous stakeholders’ consultations with the communities within which the property was located for proper consensus building as well as enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) stating the interests and benefits of both parties to ensure coordination and peaceful coexistence between the two parties.
He noted that the Lands Act 2020 (Act 1036) sought to replace the old laws which were bedeviled with inconsistencies, bringing about several problems in land administration such as the proliferation of land guards, multiple sale of lands, tenure insecurity amongst others.
Mr. Danso intimated that the Lands Commission during his tenure will continue to engage in stakeholder consultations with major players in Land sale and acquisition including the traditional authorities who are undoubtedly the biggest and most important stakeholders in the efficient implementation of land administration in Ghana.
The Effutu Municipal Chief Executive, Hon. Alhaji Zubairu Kassim supported by his colleagues from Gomoa East and Gomoa Central, Hon. Solomon Darko Quarm and Hon. Benjamin K. Otoo respectively embraced the move for broader consultations on land issues among the various traditional authorities in the Effutu and Gomoa areas to help sanitize to the land sector and Land administration in the country as a whole.
Hon. Zubairu Kassim charged the Police to deal decisively with miscreants in the system who seek to disturb the peace and order in the area by fomenting trouble through their illegal and criminal acts of multiple Land sales and Land- Guard operations.
The Effutu MCE and his counterpart from Gomoa East seized the opportunity to explain the issues surrounding the dualization of the Winneba- Kasoa Highway project construction to the traditional authorities who had expressed misgivings about the lack of stakeholders’ engagement with the affected communities and the effects of the construction works on the local people.
They resolved to impress on the construction firm to do the needful by engaging the traditional leaders in their operational areas to ensure the successful execution of the project.
The Paramount Chiefs for the Effutu and Gomoa -Ajumako Traditional Areas, Nenyi Ghartey VII and Obirempong Nyamfo Krampah XI respectively commended the Lands Commission for the engagement and called for a much deeper consultation and collaboration on Land related matters in the respective traditional areas.
STORY BY: CHARLES BAAH ABOAGYE -ISD
Last modified: April 3, 2024
