Lands Commission hindering attempts to release list of public lands - Ablakwa

The Government Assurances Committee of Parliament has condemned the Lands Commission for failing to supply information regarding the use of public lands and how they have been used over the years.

According to the Committee, one of the fraudulent practices that requires data in order to combat it is the registration of government lands as private holdings.

The Chairman of the Committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, speaking at a meeting on Wednesday, July 31, 2024, said several attempts over the previous two years to obtain the records from the Lands Commission had been unsuccessful.

“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 sole enquirer, the only way to stem this, to prevent this, to forestall this, is to have the data, to put the data together.

“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,” Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said, as reported by citinewsroom.com.

Samuel Abdulai Jinapor, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, explained why the Lands Commission took so long to provide the data.

“The Lands Commission for all these years has been operating manually and it is just recently that we have started making efforts to digitise the records of the Lands Commission.

“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,” he explained, the report added.

KA/AE

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