The Ministry of Lands and Forestry has directed the cancellation of all free leasing of government land to facilitate the acquisition of land in the Golden Age of Business.
Professor Kasim Kasanga, the Minister of Lands and Forestry, who was speaking during a familiarisation visit to the Lands Commission recently, said the Golden Age of Business requires the lease of state or stool lands before any development project could be undertaken.
Prof Kasanga said the new directive by the ministry would vest all state lands to encourage proactive land management of resources and rent review among other things to make the new policy effective and thereby revamp the Lands Commission.
"The implementation of new policies at the Lands and Forestry Ministry is for the benefit of the Lands Commission since most of the policies currently guiding them is not encouraging and for that matter misleading the Commission."
He said "the efficient management of good land policies and forestry resources would generate for the country a lot of income and may even prevent the country from borrowing money from the World Bank."
He noted that it was very disappointing that the Commission had not seen any restructuring or renovations within the past 10 years, especially since land was the bedrock of every developmental project undertaken in a country.
Professor Kasanga said in view of the numerous problems facing the staff, especially with regard to remuneration, a suggestion would be passed on to Parliament to consider the withdrawal of the commission from the Civil Service to be run in such a way as to improve the working conditions of the staff.w
Outlining some of the problems facing the commission to the minister, Alhaji Ibrahim Baryeh, the Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission, said it was high time the commission was computerised.
He said the commission needed computers to assist it in its work, especially in the records room, since most of the records covering lands in the country had no backups and this willl be disastrous should the unforeseen happens.
Alhaji Baryeh requested for additional hands to man the place, since most of the job being done at the moment is manual.
He also asked the minister to re-open the Cartography Training School that had been closed down for some years now.
The minister advised them to bring proposals and suggestions they deem vital to facilitate their work.
