The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has declared that all public lands previously disposed of by the state will be reassessed to ensure proper value for money.
Addressing the media during a visit by the Vice-President to the Ministry, Mr Buah disclosed that the exercise has already commenced.
“We began the process of reviewing. One of the things we all heard about was that public lands that the government had taken for specific purposes that now belong to the government, some of them for agricultural purposes, some of them for different purposes, become government property,” he explained.
He observed that although certain individuals had been tasked with safeguarding these lands, some had taken advantage of the responsibility.
“Somehow, the people have been given the charge to protect these lands. But some are abusing it,” Mr Buah added.
The Minister stressed that the President remains determined to ensure effective stewardship of public lands. “His Excellency the President vowed to make sure that we get it right. I’m happy to tell you that we constituted a team led by my able deputy, and we got cabinet approval to address that in the long term,” he said.
Issuing a stern caution to public officials, Mr Buah warned against any attempt to misappropriate state lands. “By the time we finish, no government official will even cross with their mind to take public land. Because we will publish your name in every newspaper,” he stated.
He further disclosed that cabinet has endorsed the review of all previously sold public lands to confirm that transactions were properly executed and delivered value for money.
“By the way, cabinet has approved our recommendation that all public lands that had been sold are going under review to make sure there’s value for money and process what was done,” he said.
Mr Buah concluded: “Those that didn’t finish the process are automatically cancelled. And so we are going on to make sure that we implement to the letter the cabinet recommendation to give confidence to the people of Ghana that we are going to protect public lands.”
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