The Ministry of Lands has announced new measures to improve accountability and transparency in the management of public lands, following a comprehensive review of 8,160 lease applications across all 16 regions of Ghana.
Lands Minister Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah at a press Briefing in Accra on Monday, February 16, explained that the applications reviewed included 4,176 direct allocations, 2,799 regularisations, 19 allocations for state bungalows, 108 land swap or public-private partnership arrangements, 795 subsequent transactions, and 265 fresh allocations.
88 of the land swap deals occurred in the Ashanti Region. The review revealed that some transactions did not fully comply with the Lands Commission’s internal processes, undermining transparency.
To restore accountability, the Ministry will conduct a case-by-case review of all completed transactions. Any allocations found to have bypassed due process will face possible cancellation. All incomplete regularisation applications will remain suspended pending a comprehensive review and standardisation of the Lands Commission’s internal procedures. The revised procedures will apply to all pending and future regularisations.
For clarity, a transaction will be considered completed if a formal offer was issued and accepted by the applicant. Transactions that do not meet this threshold will be treated as uncompleted for the purposes of the review.
Both completed and uncompleted application lists will be published region by region, starting with the Greater Accra Region, on the Ministry and Lands Commission’s websites
Completed transactions under review will be assessed against clear benchmarks, including compliance with statutory and administrative procedures, value for money, conformity with land use and planning requirements, and measures to prevent misuse of corporate structures in public land applications.
According to the Ministry, these measures are part of ongoing efforts to ensure public lands are managed with integrity, efficiency, and transparency, reinforcing public confidence in Ghana’s land administration system.
