Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has promised to digitize Ghana’s land tenure system and make land registration free for chiefs by way of solving land disputes in the country.
Dr. Bawumia stressed the importance of modernizing the land tenure system, giving examples from developed countries where land ownership information is easily accessible online, and the need for a similar approach in Ghana.
“Land in many countries, in the advanced world, if you want to know who owns the land, you can find it on your mobile phone, you don’t have to visit the land registry. So we are going to move to marking and digitalizing our land. So many land disputes come up because nobody really knows who owns the land,” he said.
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The NPP flagbearer added that the high cost of land registration makes it difficult for chiefs to register their lands, leading to ownership disputes.
“Many people claim ownership and one of the problems we have is that many of the stool lands are not registered. I found out that many of the chiefs find it difficult to pay the registration fee because it’s a bit expensive. So what am I going to do? We are going to provide free registration for all the chiefs,” Bawumia said.
The Vice President as part of the meeting urged the church to join the government to overcome the challenges facing the National Cathedral project, proposing private-sector involvement as a possible solution.
“The question on the National Cathedral is a very important one. The National Cathedral, I have contributed to it personally and I believe it is a very important thing for Ghana but I think as it stands now, the church has to come together with the government and let us sit down and talk about the way forward for the National Cathedral. The church should come together and let’s know the best way forward, how we can even get private resources to help us complete the Cathedral,” Dr. Bawumia said.
Land ownership disputes have become a major issue across the country, resulting in numerous fatalities. This year, there has been several media reports on land disputes. Recently, land guards shot and killed a soldier over a land dispute in Kasoa in the Central Region indicating a troubling trend of individuals and communities clashing over land ownership.
This incident in Kasoa, along with similar violent events in other regions, shows the urgent need for reforms in land registration and conflict resolution.
