In an effort to settle the nation’s long-standing land issues, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has announced intentions to digitize the land tenure system and provide free land registration for chiefs.
Speaking to the clergy in the Greater Accra Region, Dr. Bawumia emphasized that one major obstacle keeping chiefs from registering their estates is the high cost of registration fees, which frequently results in 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,” Dr. Bawumia stated.
He emphasized the necessity of updating the land tenure system and drew comparisons with developed nations where property ownership data is easily obtainable on the internet.
“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 digitalising our land. So many land disputes come up because nobody really knows who owns the land,” the NPP flagbearer explained.
Speaking on yet another important topic, Dr. Bawumia addressed the contentious National Cathedral project and urged the church to work with the government to find a workable solution that might involve finance from the private sector.
“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 added.