Over 8,000 Leases Reviewed amid Public Land Lease Overhaul
The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has announced that a total of 8,160 public land lease applications processed between 2017 and 2024 have been reviewed to safeguard public lands from abuse and restore sanity in land administration.
The review follows President John Dramani Mahama’s directive on January 10, 2025, to the Lands Commission to suspend all transactions involving public lands after uncovering procedural lapses in several allocations.
Addressing the press on Monday, the Minister said the reviewed applications comprised 4,176 direct allocations, 2,799 regularisations, 19 allocations relating to state bungalows, 108 land swap or public-private partnership arrangements, 795 subsequent transactions and 263 fresh allocations.
“A number of these applications did not fully comply with the Lands Commission’s internal procedures. These lapses undermined transparency, accountability, and public trust”, the Minister noted.
He disclosed that all uncompleted transactions under the affected categories have been cancelled, and applicants will be notified.
“Completed transactions will undergo a case-by-case review, and any allocation found to have breached due process will be revoked”, he stated.
He outlined a series of reforms to address the challenges identified, said to include the revision and standardisation of the Public Land Application Form, stricter internal procedures at the Lands Commission, and mandatory written approval from the Minister before any public land allocation.
He indicated that a Public Land Protection Task Force will be established to prevent encroachment and unauthorised development.
The lawmaker also explained that although the temporary ban on public land transactions has been lifted, all future allocations must strictly comply with the new reforms.
“Public lands are vested in trust for the people of Ghana and must be managed in the public interest,” he reiterated.
The Minister further disclosed that a committee chaired by his Deputy, Yusif Sulemana, has been constituted to review public land leases across all sixteen regions of Ghana.
Other members of the committee included Collins Dauda, Member of Parliament for Asutifi South and Chairman of the Lands Committee, Prof. Bruce Kofi Banoeng-Yakubu, Prof. Kwame John, Esq. and Rev. Dr Lawrence Tetteh.
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