Director Advises Ghanaians

Mr Kwame Boafo, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Lands Commission, on yesterday stressed the need for Ghanaians to gather the political will and courage to deal with the problems of apathy, lateness to work and laziness which had become endemic in the fabric of the administrative system of the country.
He said Ghanaians could not delude themselves into thinking that problems confronting land administration could be legislated away by the mere passage of a law or dissipated by the mere infusion of modern technology gadgets into the system.

Mr Boafo was speaking at the annual conference of the Lands Commission in Kumasi.

The five-day conference is under the theme "change management in the new Lands Commission set up; challenges ahead for stakeholders".

He said the need for changes in land administration to encapsulate all the main land sector agencies under one roof and to operate on the basis of "one-stop-shop" to facilitate convenience and efficiency was long overdue.

However, Mr Boafo said, there was the need "for political will to contend with encroachments on water bodies, public lands and open spaces as well as haphazard developments in contempt disregard of planning schemes" and administrative bottlenecks to ensure the successful and efficient operation of the new Lands Commission.

Alhaji Ibrahim Baryeh, Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission, said the bill, which sought to establish the new Lands Commission, was before Cabinet.

He said when enacted the Act would bring together the land sector agencies under one management.