Don’t scramble for lands for yourselves, cronies - Deputy Minister advises Lands Commission members
The reconstituted Central Regional Lands Commission has been inaugurated with a call on members to avoid the temptation of being seen as scrambling for lands for themselves and cronies.
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The Deputy Minister, Mrs Barbara Oteng-Gyasi, who made the call, urged the members to rather facilitate the rational allocation and development of those lands in accordance with land use and spatial planning regulations.
“You are also expected to facilitate investment entry into different areas of the region such that development is spread across all parts,” she said.
Collaboration
The deputy minister asked the members to collaborate with the Coastal Development Authority, as well as the Zongo Development Fund to uplift their people from the level of poverty that the region was subjected to.
She said the structural developments from Awutu Senya towards Winneba and beyond were the result of the influence of the urban sprawl from Accra, adding that “Let us bear in mind that many of the peri-urban areas being developed were farmlands for indigenes.”
Fate of the region
She said the Central Regional Lands Commission had an arduous task of opening up the region for development through the inflow of positive investments from the private sector.
Ms Gyasi said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo came to power with a clarion call to open up the country for business through several initiatives in agriculture, citing the one-district, one-factory policy among others to buttress her point.
Illegal mining
The Central Regional Minister, Mr Kwamena Duncan, said the region had not been assertive enough in land matters, a situation which resulted in illegal mining and sand winning, adding that members were in a privileged position to correct that wrong.
The President of the Central Regional House of Chiefs, Obrempong Krampah Nyanful XI, who chaired the occasion, urged members of the committee to cooperate with traditional rulers and other stakeholders to ensure the success of their work.
A Cape Coast High Court Judge, Justice William Boampong, administered the oath of office to the 26-member commission chaired by Dr Ekow Sam.