The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has announced the cancellation and review of thousands of public land lease transactions following Cabinet’s approval of sweeping reforms aimed at restoring transparency, accountability, and value for money in the management of Ghana’s public lands.
Addressing a press conference in Accra, the Minister recalled that on January 10, 2025, President John Dramani Mahama directed the Lands Commission to halt all activities relating to the leasing and processing of public lands to curb abuse and irregularities.
In response, the Ministry constituted a Committee to Review the Lease of Public Lands, which examined 8,160 lease applications executed or initiated between 2017 and 2024 across all sixteen regions. The applications included direct allocations, regularizations, state bungalow leases, land swaps and public-private partnership arrangements, subsequent transactions, and fresh allocations.
The review uncovered widespread non-compliance with internal procedures, undermining transparency and exposing the system to abuse. As a result, Cabinet has directed that all uncompleted transactions within the affected categories be cancelled, while completed transactions will undergo case-by-case review. Any allocation found to have breached due process will also be cancelled.
Buah disclosed that lists of both completed and uncompleted applications will be published on a region-by-region basis, beginning with Greater Accra, on the Ministry’s and Lands Commission’s websites.
To prevent a recurrence, the Minister announced major reforms, including the revision of the Public Land Application Form (Form 5), which will now serve as the single mandatory application instrument nationwide and be accessible online. The Lands Commission’s internal processes for public land allocation have also been overhauled, with a new rule requiring prior written approval from the Minister before any public land can be allocated.
Government is further moving to provide legislative backing for these reforms through amendments to the draft Land Regulation.
On valuation, Buah revealed a new premium framework under which at least 70 percent of the assessed market value of public land will be paid upfront as a premium, with the remaining 30 percent structured as ground rent over the lease period. This replaces previous practices where premiums ranged between 1 and 30 percent of market value.
The Ministry will also compile and publish market value data for defined land clusters nationwide to guide transparent pricing and consistent decision-making.
To safeguard lands affected by the exercise, a Public Land Protection Task Force will be established, comprising officials from the Lands Ministry, Ministry of Works, Housing and Water Resources, the Lands Commission, the Ghana Police Service, allied security agencies, and selected private sector experts.
The Minister clarified that the temporary ban on Lands Commission services has been lifted, and all activities may resume immediately, but strictly under the new reforms.
He assured Ghanaians that public lands, vested in the President in trust for the people, will be protected and managed solely in the national interest, adding that 67 percent of the Lands Commission’s retained internally generated funds will support the Land Bank and Digitalisation Project.
