The Savannah Regional Lands Commission Board, consisting of 14 members has been duely inaugurated at the Savannah Regional coordinating council in Damongo.
Deputy minister incharge of lands and natural resources and member of parliament for the Bole-Bamboi Constituency, Alhaji Yussif Sulemana who supervised the inauguration ceremony in a speech charged the board to ensure proper planning and use of land and spaces in the region for effective development under the existing laws.
He bemoaned that the land administration had been saddled with several challenges including a petition put before him by the overlord of the Gonja Kingdom Yagbonwura Biikunuto Jewu Soale in relationship with land issues in the Savannah Region.
He said the issue of unemployment in the region can best be solved using the natural resources including the lands that the region is bestowed with.
Hon. Yussif Sulemana charged the newly inaugurated board to work towards bringing governance closer to the people hence the inauguration of the commission to enable the region to fully depend on its institutions, not institutions of other regions still superintending over the new region and, also make land administration easier to the residents of the region.
The Savannah region, being the largest in Ghana in terms of land size, has a great opportunity to leverage its natural resources to accelerate socio-economic development, create jobs for the youth, and curb the menace of high intake of hard drugs also known as opioids in the region.
The Chairman for the Savannah regional Land commission Board Chief Kulopowura Alhaji Haruna Sachibu on behalf of the board assured the deputy minister of lands and natural resources of the their readiness to work towards the success of the land commission in the region.
The inauguration of a fourteen-member Lands Commission on Thursday, May 8,2025 is mandated to act as follows according to Article 258 of the 1992 constitution;
(1) There shall be established a Lands Commission which shall, in coordination with the relevant public agencies and governmental bodies, perform the following functions –
(a) on behalf of the Government, manage public lands and any lands vested in the President by this Constitution or by any other law or any lands vested in the Commission;
(b) advise the Government, local authorities and traditional authorities on the policy framework for the development of particular areas of Ghana to ensure that the development of individual pieces of land is coordinated with the relevant development plan for the area concerned;
(c) formulate and submit to government recommendations on national policy with respect to land use and capability;
(d) advise on, and assist in the execution of, a comprehensive programme for the registration of title to land throughout Ghana;
(e) performs such other functions as the Minister responsible for lands and natural resources may assign to the Commission.
The board is tasked with overseeing land management in the region, particularly in the context of the new Land Act. The inauguration ceremony also included the swearing in of the members, who took oaths of office, allegiance, and secrecy.
