AHANTA TRADITIONAL COUNCIL GETS CUSTOMARY LAND SECRETARIAT

The Oil and Gas boom in the western region is said to have tripled the quest for land acquisition especially in the southern belt of the region and this has resulted in pockets of land disputes in almost every Land in the Ahanta Traditional Area.

The establishment of the Customary Land Secretariat is one of the key interventions under the Land Administration Project (LAP) designed by Government as one of the key policy actions and initiatives to ensure reforms in the land sector through a more efficient and decentralized land administration system.

It is also said to be a policy measure aimed at addressing the challenges associated with land management and administration in this country.

As part of this land administration project, government is to assists and supported traditional owning communities to set up their own customary land secretariat so that they will be able to keep and maintain accurate records for the office of the Administrator of Stool lands to help minimize land related conflicts and disputes that are normally associated with land management and administration.

The Regional Stool Lands Officer from the Office of the Administrator of Stool lands, Ruth Paintsil, believes the decentralized Customary Lands Secretariat in Busua in the Ahanta West District of the western region will promote peaceful development of our communities and help make available information on the land use and rights as well as ownership.

“You and I know that if we have accurate and proper records we will not condone with the purchase of multiple sale of lands”.

She as well mentioned that the Customary Lands Secretariat will also help promote the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) which intends to ease the pressure on the judiciary.

Ruth Paintsil however advised that all documents on land transactions are to be sent to the Customary Lands Secretariat for records keeping to avoid double sale of lands in the Ahanata Traditional Area.

According to the western regional surveyor, Robert Hackman Antwi, the establishment of this office in Busua certainly makes the end of the frustration surveyors in the region go through just to do a piece of works on a land in the area.

Excited about the establishment of the Secretariat in Busua, chiefs cloud not hide their joy over the fact that the Secretariat affords them an alternative dispute resolution outside the court in the face of pockets of land litigations in almost every traditional area in the Ahanta land.

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