The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has ordered complete digitization of the Lands Commission to ensure effective land administration in the country.
He gave the order on Wednesday, December 7, 2022, during his address to open a 4-day national lands conference being held in Accra under the auspices of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and its partners.
The President indicated that he could not conclude his speech without mentioning the issue of digitalization, but from the onset commended the Lands Commission “for the progress made in moving some of its services online.”
However, he opined that in this age of technology, it was unacceptable that they still operate in a largely manual environment, stressing that efficient land administration could not be delivered if documents on land had to be processed manually.
“We must, therefore, expedite action on the digitalization agenda and ensure that the Commission goes fully digital,” he added.
The President hoped the issue of full digitalization will be key on their agenda when they go into technical discussions.
LAND FOR DEVELOPMENT
Speaking on the theme of “Leveraging National Land Policy, Legislation, and Institutional Capacity Towards Sustainable Socio-Economic Development,” President Akufo-Addo reminded the gathering that land remains the number one factor in development.
The President further said that the dynamics of land tenure and land rights, the relationship between population growth and land rights evolution, and the competition between different land uses such as mining, agriculture, and infrastructure demand that bold, decisive actions be taken to ensure that land resources are well managed for optimum returns.
ASSURANCE
The President therefore urged all to work together to build an effective and efficient land administration to propel the nation’s development.
He also urged all of them to use the conference to foster stronger alliances and networks that will provide opportunities for continuous sharing of ideas and experiences within the land sub-sector.
The President, however, assured the gathering of the government’s commitment to working with stakeholders to deliver a land administration system that is fit for purpose.
ROBUST LAND ADMINISTRATION
The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, on his part assured President Akufo-Addo and, by extension, the nation that his ministry and other stakeholders will collaborate to have a robust land administration for the country.
Giving his address at the opening of the conference, the Minister for Lands remarked that his outfit was conscious of the centrality of land to national development.
According to Samuel Jinapor, “the adverse consequences of ineffective, fraudulent, and weak land administration are perhaps the most serious threat to our national security and development. But we are poised to build, here in our country, a robust and functioning land administration which will discard the usual inefficiencies, fraud, and delays and which will be anchored on the principles of transparency and integrity.”
Concerning the Lands Commission going fully online, the minister informed the president and the audience that work was being done diligently to ensure digitization and digitalization.
He believed that going online would lead to improved maps and spatial data, digital transformation, systematic recording, verification, the creation of a national cadastre and the implementation of a national spatial data infrastructure.
PROGRESS
The minister reported to the president about the progress made so far. The Lands Commission has rolled out the Enterprise Land Information System (ELIS) and successfully migrated some of its operations, including searches, online.
He also mentioned that drones are being employed in surveying and mapping to produce accurate, geo-referenced and efficient orthophoto maps to support land title registration and base-maps for the development of local planning schemes.
Six (6) new, fully functioning offices have been provided for the six (6) new regions, and land service delivery is being decentralised to the various regions.
CONFERENCE
Welcoming guests and participants to the opening of the conference, the Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission, Mr. Ebenezer Dadzie, indicated that the mandate of the commission informed the organisation of the conference to discuss policy options and experiences to foster high-level support and interventions to promote efficient land administration in Ghana.
Specifically, he stated that the conference, among other things, sought to achieve a multi-stakeholder platform for policy dialogue on land issues and challenges and propose recommendations to the government to address the issues.
