Ghana Integrity Initiative holds community land clinic in Atebubu

The Ghana Integrity Initiative in collaboration with the Bono East regional office of the Lands Commission has held a Community Land Clinic in Atebubu.

According to Mr. Michael Okine the Coordinator for the ‘Land and Corruption in Africa’ project, the increasing need for land use, has led to its administration becoming fraught with many irregularities which amount to corruption.

He said efforts to address these irregularities and to ensure the adherence to regulations in the land acquisition process led to the project which also runs in 6 other African countries namely: South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, and Madagascar.

He shared the findings of a sentinel survey conducted in the municipality prior to the public engagement which revealed among others, the high cost of land, extortion, and multiple allocations as some of the acts of corruption in the land acquisition process in the municipality with chiefs and local authorities as the worst offenders.

Mr. Benjamin Adu Hanson, the regional director of the Lands Commission took participants mainly drawn from farmers and trade groups, heads of departments, traditional authorities, and the media through the types of land ownership, the land registration process, and its importance stressing the need to document all land transactions notwithstanding the intended use.

He also touched on the preparation of base maps, layouts, and land demarcations adding that land transactions are guided by law hence the need to involve the Commission in such arrangements making references to the new land act 1036, the 1992 constitution, the environmental protection act 1994 act 490 and the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority act 925 as laws governing land acquisition in Ghana.
Mr. Hanson together with some officials from his outfit provided answers to a number of questions key amongst which were, the land registration process, witnesses to land acquisition, the role of the Commission in disputes, the role of the Stool Lands Secretariat, and the difference between stool and family lands.

Most participants were grateful to the organizers for the insights that they hoped will guide them in any future dealing with land matters.

Present were members of the Social Auditing Club, a local Affiliate of the Ghana integrity Initiative.