Jinapor inaugurates committee to review report on de-vesting of lands

The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, on Wednesday, February 23, 2022, inaugurated a five-member Committee to review a preliminary report on the de-vesting of vested lands presented by the Lands Commission.

Section 270(2) of the Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036), which came into force on December 23, 2020, enjoined the Lands Commission to, within six months of the coming into force of the Act, begin the process of evaluating all existing vested lands, with the view to recommending to the President, the de-vesting of those lands.

Pursuant to this law, the Lands Commission, in June 2021, established a 12-member committee, chaired by the Director of Public and Vested Lands Management Division of the Lands Commission, Ms. Mabel H. Yemidi, to undertake a case by case inquiry into the current status of vested lands, collate the views of the pre-vesting owners, study the challenges and lessons learnt from previous attempts at de-vesting, and make recommendations to the President within six (6) months.

The inauguration of the Committee follows the presentation of the preliminary report of the Yemidi Committee to the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources.

Inaugurating the Committee at the Conference room of the Ministry, the Minister said the establishment of the Committee is premised on the importance of land to our national and cultural lives and the need to ensure that the President is provided with the full facts and given advice motivated by candour, integrity and professionalism, so as to enable him to take the appropriate decisions, in the public interest, in relation to the de-vesting of lands in the country.

The Committee is chaired by Andy Kwame Appiah Kubi, a lawyer and Member of Parliament for Asante Akim North Constituency, and a former Deputy Minister for Railway Development. The other members are Kumbun-Naa Alhaji Naa Abu Iddrisu II, a surveyor and fellow of the Ghana Institute of Surveyors, representing the National House of Chiefs, Dr. Wordsworth Odame-Larbi, a Land Policy and Land Administration Consultant, representing the Ghana Institute of Surveyors, Mr. Dennis Adjei-Dwomoh, the Managing Partner of Law Plus, representing the Ghana Bar Association, and Mr. Maxwell Adu-Nsafoa, the Technical Director for Lands at the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.

The Committee is to review the Yemidi Committee Report and make recommendations to the Minister for his review and onward submission to the President of the Republic. The Minister expressed his confidence in the Committee to deliver on this mandate.

Mr. Jinapor pledged the government’s commitment to do just to all stools, clans, families and individuals by resolving the age-old problem of de-vesting.

“The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, is committed to ensuring that the de-vesting of vested lands if deemed necessary, is done fairly, equitably, transparently, justly, and based on integrity,” the Minister said.

Responding to the Minister, the Chairman of the Committee, Appiah-Kubi, thanked the President of the Republic, and the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, for the confidence reposed in them.

He assured the Minister that the Committee would diligently carry out its mandate and ensure that the Minister gets the best of recommendation to inform the President’s decision on de-vesting.