50 Customary land secretariats to be set up
Fifty Customary Land Secretariats (CLS) are to be established under the second phase of the Land Administration Project (LAP) as part of efforts to decentralise land service to the local level.
Advertisement
The CLS will serve as a link between land sector agencies and communities to address issues related to land.
The five-year LAP-Two, which started in 2011, would be completed in 2016. Thirty-seven of the CLSs were established under phase one of the LAP.
So far, 10 have been established under phase two, out of a target of 20 CLS to be established this year.
When the secretariat is contacted prior to the purchase/lease of a land, trained officials of the CLS would be required to undertake a search to establish the true owner of the land before the registration process.
The objective is to check the rising cases of multiple sale of land which has plunged the sector into many unresolved disputes.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in an interview, the Chief Stool Lands Officer at the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands (OASL), Mr Kwesi Dautey, said the move was also to address the issue of indeterminate customary boundaries of traditional areas, which had often resulted in conflicts among traditional authorities.
The OASL is acting as the lead agency in the establishment of the CLSs. Currently, its regional offices are running workshops to explain the ideals of the CLS to traditional authorities and members of communities where the secretariats are to be located.
He said, the list notwithstanding, other traditional areas would be supported to establish CLS if they expressed the willingness and showed commitment.
Mr Dautey said the traditional authorities must be willing to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the implementors of the LAP-Two in establishing minimum norms of transparency, respect for rights, management of land records and the provision of transparent and accountable services.
LAP is the long-term 15-25 years reforms in the land sector. LAP-2 is the current and second phase of the project intended to implement the key policy actions recommended in the Ghana Land Policy of 1999 to address critical issues militating against effective and efficient land administration in the country.
The first phase of the reforms under LAP-1, implemented from 2003 to 2010, laid the foundation by reviewing the statutes on land and carrying out institutional reforms, among other things.
By Naa Lamiley Bentil/Daily Graphic/Ghana
