Hon. Member of Parliament for Bole Bamboi Constituency and deputy minister of Lands and Natural Resources Yusif Sulemana Ori together with the Savannah regional minister Lawyer Salisu Bi-awurbe Isifu Esq, Mr Maxwell Adu-Nsafoa (Deputy Executive Secretary in charge of Operations) cut sod for the construction of Lands Commission Savannah regional office in Damongo on Tuesday 22nd April, 2025.
The office is expected to be completed within a year (12 months) by CK Engineering and Construction Ltd.
The Lands Commission is operating under the LANDS COMMISSION ACT, 2008 (ACT 767)
Hon Yussif Sulemana led the team to break the ground on behalf of the sector minister, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah. The office is a two-storey complex for the Lands Commission.
Speaking during the program Hon Yussif Sulemana Ori appealed to businesses to make sure their landed properties are well registered and documented. As a former Banker, the deputy minister said he witnessed how businesses failed to secure loans from banks to support their businesses because they failed to produce documents of landed properties when the financial institution demanded for them.
“Businesses in the country are unable to access financial advances from banks and other financial institutions because they are not able to produce proper land documents when seeking for financial advance from banks to support their operations. Most banks request for documents of landed properties but most businesses fail to produce these documents”.
He added that if the Lands Commission executed its work well many land disputes will be resolved among community members since it is the responsibility of the Lands Commission to demarcate and register lands appropriately to reduce conflicts.
Yussif Sulemana Ori disclosed that the Lands Commission needs one hundred and sixty-five million US dollars ($165,000,000) to digitalize the Land Administration system to reduce difficulties in land registrations and assured the ministry will partner with the private sector to secure funds for the purpose.
Savannah regional minister Lawyer Salisu Bi-awurbe Isifu Esq said land registration will be easier if the Lands Commission uses technology to register lands across the country. It will reduce the financial burden on the citizens as one needs not to travel from Salaga to Damongo to register lands.
He said once the Lands Commission uses technology to connect all districts into a system, registration of lands will become easy and less costly and also, make the work of land surveyors easier. It will also put to stop lost of files in the offices since each land is well documented.
Savannah region has the largest landmark in the country, covering one-fifth of the total lands in Ghana.
Mr. Maxwell Adu-Nsafoa (Deputy Executive Secretary in charge of Operations) at the Lands Commission said the commission’s five-year strategic plan will support it to build offices across all regions.
Currently, only four (4) out of the 16 administrative regions, have office complexes with 12 regions living in rented facilities at high cost.
Other high profile persons who graced the program include West Gonja MCE Yakubu Yussif Castro, Regional Lands Officer Surveyor Tuotir Noel, traditional and religious leaders, stakeholders, staff from Lands Commission, political parties, among others.
