The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has disclosed that a thorough examination and audit of all public lands sold in recent years is underway, with the objective of verifying adherence to due process.
This initiative was announced during a courtesy visit from Vice President Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang to the Ministry.
The Minister elucidated that the exercise seeks to safeguard public assets and ensure fiscal accountability on the part of the state.
He further emphasised that any transactions found to be in contravention of established protocols or lacking requisite procedural compliance will be rendered null and void.
According to Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, this review is in response to increasing concerns regarding the unlawful sale or mismanagement of public lands, initially acquired for specific purposes such as agriculture and development, by officials entrusted with their stewardship.
He said officials found found culpable would be publicly named and sanctioned to serve as a deterrent to others.
“We began the processes of reviewing. One of the things that we all heard is that public lands that the government had taken for specific purposes, some for agriculture, somehow, the people who had been given the charge to protect these lands were abusing them.
“We constituted a team led by my able Deputy, and we got cabinet approval to address that. By the time we finish, it will not cross the mind of any government official to take public lands because we will publish your name in every newspaper.
“All public lands that had been sold are going under review to make sure there is value for money, and a process audit was done. Those that didn’t finish the processes are automatically canceled. We are going on to ensure we implement it the latter to give confidence to the people of Ghana that we are going to protect public lands,” he added.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
