Land registration for chiefs will be free if I become president - Bawumia

The flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, in a bid to resolve long-standing land disputes in the country, has announced plans to offer free land registration for chiefs and digitise the land tenure system.

Speaking to the clergy in the Greater Accra Region, Dr. Bawumia highlighted the high cost of registration fees as a significant barrier preventing chiefs from registering their lands, leading to frequent ownership conflicts.

“Many people claim ownership, and one of the problems we have is that many of the lands are not registered. I found out that many of the chiefs find it difficult to pay the registration fee because it’s a bit expensive. So, what am I going to do? We are going to provide free registration for all the chiefs,” Dr. Bawumia stated.

He underscored the need to modernise the land tenure system, drawing parallels with advanced countries where land ownership information is readily accessible online.

“Land in many countries, in the advanced world, if you want to know who owns the land, you can find it on your mobile phone; you don’t have to visit the land registry. So, we are going to move to marking and digitalizing our land. So many land disputes come up because nobody really knows who owns the land,” the NPP flagbearer said.

In addressing another significant issue, Dr. Bawumia touched on the controversial National Cathedral project, calling on the church to collaborate with the government to find a viable way forward, including the potential for private-sector funding.

“The question about the National Cathedral is a very important one. I have contributed to the National Cathedral personally, and I believe it is a very important thing for Ghana, but I think as it stands now, the church has to come together with the government and let us sit down and talk about the way forward for the National Cathedral. The church should come together and let’s know the best way forward—how we can even get private resources to help us complete the cathedral,” Dr. Bawumia added.