Mr James Kobina Dadson, Acting Executive Secretary, Lands Commission, says “our regional offices are fully operational” and urged the public to do business with the Commission at the regional offices.
That, he explained, was part of the Commission’s decentralization plan to ensure effective and efficient service delivery for its clients adding that, there was no need for an individual in Kumasi for instance, to move to Accra for services.
Mr Dadson said this in Accra at a closing ceremony of a five-day management retreat on the theme: “Achieving Institutional excellence land services delivery through modern technology, human resource development, and private participation.”
The Acting Executive Secretary announced that the Commission’s district office in Tema would be fully operational in 2023 and assured the public of building the capacity of staff and adopting best practices in addressing challenges of compensation.
He said the Commission was embarking on reforms, including the digitization drive of migrating its records from manual to digital to address the bottlenecks in the system for smooth services.
Mr Dadson was optimistic that the outcomes of these reforms would result in a total transformation of land service delivery by the Commission.
Touching on the relationship with the Chiefs, he admitted that the traditional authorities manage over 80 per cent of all the lands in the country, but the Commission’s mandate was to do the registration on their behalf.
The Commission, he said, occasionally embarked on public education campaigns, in collaboration with the House of Chiefs and the Media, especially with the new land Act, adding that every region had a representative of the Regional House of Chiefs on the board who reports and sends feedback to the Chiefs.
Mr Dadson debunked the allegation that the Commission was the cause of many land disputes in the country, explaining that “if Teshie in Accra registers a land and neighbouring community and La goes to court and secures judgement, the Commission cannot be blamed for it.”
Mr Alex Quaynor, the Chairman of the Commission, advised staff to be professional in the discharge of their duties to transform the Commission into a viable institution and gain public trust and confidence.
Mr Jones Ofori Boadu, the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Commission, blamed part of the land problems on the country’s outdated map, which had been in use since 1974.
Ashantibiz
