Lands Commission to eradicate ‘middlemen’ in registration space using GhanaCard

The Lands Commission says it is working closely with the National Identification Authority (NIA) to eliminate undesirable “middlemen” in the land registration space using the GhanaCard for verification of grantors and grantees.

He said collaborating with the NIA in the verification process would assist in ensuring that the Commission dealt and communicated directly with the grantors and grantees on record at any given time, and not only their “agents” or “middlemen”.

Mr Benjamin Arthur, the Acting Executive Secretary of the Commission, announced this at the Executive Secretary’s Annual Briefing and launching of Staff Awards Scheme in Accra on Friday.

That would enable the Commission to send text messages and prompts in respect of the progress of applications directly to the grantees, Mr Arthur explained.

“We may well get to the point of “No GhanaCard, No Registration,” he noted.

“A lot of progress has been made at efforts to improve the process of registering titles.”

“Additional features introduced in the plan approval process will make it possible for the publication of title applications to be undertaken very early upon receipt of such applications.”

The event also saw the outdooring of a five-year Business Strategic Plan of the Commission from 2023 to 2027, which will guide its operations.

The Strategic Plan has five major goals, including Enhancing the Commission’s financial sustainability, Digital Reforms and Corporate Image, as well as the competence and discipline of staff to improve service delivery.

The Commission’s corporate image redemption drive could only succeed if it was associated with improvements in service delivery, Mr Arthur said.

He, thus, called for teamwork among the staff and management to complement one another to achieve the desired goals.

Mr Benito Owusu-Bio, a Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, highlighted the Ministry’s plans for this year, which comprise digital transformation of land administration activities, completion of the new Lands Commission’s head office at 37, to be commissioned in April this year, and enhancement of the Commission’s corporate image.

He expressed confidence in the Commission’s leadership and believed that it was heading the right direction.

“Ghanaians will overwhelmingly vouch for the credibility and efficiency of the Commission sooner or later,” he said.