President John Dramani Mahama has announced plans by the Government to lay before Parliament a Divestiture of Public Property Bill, aimed at legally regulating the sale, transfer, or privatization of state-owned assets to safeguard the national interest and improve economic efficiency.
According to the President, the proposed legislation will ensure that any sale or transfer of public property, particularly state-owned lands and strategic assets, receives the approval of Parliament as representatives of the people.
“If one wants to sell public property such as landed property, one would need the approval of the representatives of the people, which is Parliament,” President Mahama stated.
“And so any public land processing will not be processed at the Lands Commission unless it is ratified in Parliament. This will stop the rampant sale of government assets.”
President Mahama made these remarks on Wednesday evening during an engagement with the Ghanaian diaspora community in Lusaka, Zambia, as part of his three-day state visit to the Southern African nation at the invitation of President Hakainde Hichilema.
The President expressed concern over past decisions that, he said, mortgaged public assets without adequate public oversight. He cited the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), noting that the refinery had resumed operations after attempts under the previous administration to hand it over to private interests for a 15-year period.
“Today, TOR is working again. Under the previous government, there was an attempt to hand over TOR to somebody for 15 years,” he said.
“And I mean, really, what say do the people have? So one government can come and just mortgage public property without the say of the people’s representatives.”
He explained that under the proposed Public Property Divestiture Bill, any attempt to auction public land, sell state-owned land, or divest a government factory would require parliamentary approval.
“If Parliament thinks that it is fair, they will approve it. If they think it’s not fair, they don’t approve of it. And if they don’t approve of it, then it can’t happen,” President Mahama added, revealing that he had directed the Attorney-General to begin work on the legislation.
Touching on land administration reforms, President Mahama disclosed that the Government is introducing blockchain technology to digitize records at the Lands Registry, a move he said would help address challenges associated with land registration and multiple land sales.
“One major issue with land administration has to do with the registering of title deeds and the processing of land documents,” he said, noting that families and traditional authorities often unknowingly sell the same parcels of land multiple times.
“A lot of times, people who go to buy land don’t even go back to the Lands Commission to conduct a search,” he observed.
“They pay the money to somebody, and then the real owner pops up and says, ‘but that land doesn’t belong to this person.’”
According to the President, digitization will make it easier to trace land ownership and ensure buyers deal with legitimate owners.
On public lands, President Mahama disclosed that a committee set up by the Government had completed a nationwide mapping of public lands and submitted its report. He said several leases that were yet to be finalized had been cancelled.
“These were public lands that were just distributed and looted,” he said.
“People carved up government land bought cheaply at about GH¢150,000 and turned around to sell the same land for as much as $2 million, especially in prime areas of Accra.”
The President noted that in cases where individuals had already completed buildings and obtained valid titles, the Government would not demolish the structures but would instead require occupants to pay the true market value of the land.
“In places like Airport Residential, land could not have been sold at GH¢140,000,” he emphasized.
“But those that were in the process of being done at the time we came into office, we have halted that process and are taking those lands back.”
President Mahama stressed the need for a robust legal framework to ensure that reclaimed public lands are protected from future abuse.
“When we take those lands back, we must ensure that another group will not come and start selling them again,” he concluded.
Story: Patrick Asford Boadu
