The Volta Regional Lands Officer, Mr Gershon Quamie Tsra, has called on family heads and chiefs to take measures to protect lands handed over to them by their forefathers and ancestors.
According to him, the family heads or principal members of the families must take the initiative to register all lands in their custody as well as declare their interest in lands belonging to their families or clans.
Mr Tsra made the call at an outreach programme at Kpetoe in the Volta Region organised by the Lands Commission under the auspices of the Land Administration Project (LAP II) to educate the chiefs and people of the area on land related issues aimed at bringing sanity to land administration in the region and the country.
He said this,when carried out, 'will give the commission the authority to protect your land from encroachers and rampant sales of such parcels of land by unscrupulous persons including unauthorised members of the family'.
The event was attended by staff of the commission, the Agotime Ziope District Chief Executive and the chiefs and people of the Kpetoe community
He stated that the project, which was funded by the World Bank, the Government of Ghana and other donor agencies sought to address land related litigations and bring sanity to land administration in the country.
Mr Quamie Tsra,who doubles as the Volta Regional Coordinator of LAP-2 explained that the increasing cases of land litigation in the region which included rampant sales and double sales of land could be reduced if family heads took measures to register their interest in their land.
The Agotime Ziope District Chief Executive, Mr Michael Kobla Adzaho, assured the community of the determination and commitment of the District assembly to co-operate with the land sector agencies and LAP-2 to ensure an orderly development in the region, especially in the area of human settlement, planning and reduction in land disputes.
The Paramount Chief of the area, Nene Keteku expressed concern about the emergence of land related conflicts and tensions which were becoming a source of worry in the area and called on the Lands Commission, to increase its presence in the community with such outreach activities to help address these land conflicts.
Nene Keteku disclosed that the situation had gotten so bad that some family members 'including children just get up and sell lands indiscriminately due to the lack of respect for traditional authority and the regulations pertaining to land lease and sale'
According to him, members of his communities have little knowledge of land administration including sales and acquisition and expressed the appreciation of the traditional authorities to LAP-2 for the orientation workshop.
The programme was attended by traditional authorities, assembly members, land owners , farmers, women groups and tenant farmers in the Ketoe and surrounding communities
LAPII is a follow up to LAP1 and is being implemented based on the national land policy which came into effect in 1999.
The project concentrates on completing outstanding legal and institutional reforms, removing business bottlenecks, promoting transparency and addressing various land administration challenges.
It is being done to speed land registration and delivery of titles and deeds, enhancing security of tenure and resolving land disputes, among others.
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