The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has disclosed that the government will review all previously sold public lands to ensure they provided value for money.
During a visit by the Vice-President to the Ministry, Mr. Buah announced that the review process 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 highlighted instances where individuals entrusted with protecting these lands have abused their responsibilities.
“Somehow, the people have been given the charge to protect these lands. But some are abusing it,” Mr. Buah added.
The Minister stressed the President’s commitment to proper land management, noting, “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.”
Issuing a stern warning to government officials, Mr. Buah said: “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 further revealed that the cabinet has approved the review of all sold public lands to verify value for money and proper procedures.
“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 stated.
Mr. Buah added that incomplete transactions will be automatically cancelled, emphasizing the government’s intent to fully implement the cabinet’s recommendations.
“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.”