The Minister-Designate for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has strongly opposed the sale of public lands, emphasizing that any future deals involving such assets must be performed at current market rates to preserve the interests of the Ghanaians.
On Monday, January 27, during his vetting by Parliament’s Appointments Committee, Armah-Kofi Buah criticized current policies that permit public properties to be undervalued and sold at much cheaper costs, characterizing this as harmful to the growth of the country.
According to Armah-Kofi Buah, who described the rules currently followed by the Properties Commission, public properties are frequently sold for only 25% of their market worth, with the remaining amount being covered by ground rent.
According to Armah-Kofi Buah, this behaviour deprives the country of much-needed money and effectively undervalues state-owned assets.
“As we speak, the guidelines for the sale of public lands according to the Lands Commission is that it is valued at 25 percent and the 25 percent of the value is what is sold and the rest is paid through grand rent.
“That will not happen anymore, and first of all, it should not be sold and if there is a need to sell, it should be done at the current market value so that Ghanaians are not shortchanged.”
Concerns of accountability, fairness, and openness have been raised about Ghana’s controversial sale of public lands to Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).
Reports of powerful people, such as politicians, public servants, and their connections, purchasing desirable public lands at steep discounts have surfaced over the years.
These transactions, according to critics, frequently lack transparency due to a lack of public monitoring or competitive bidding procedures.
Prime properties in major cities have occasionally been sold to PEPs for significantly less than their market value, losing the state of large sums of money and posing concerns about official corruption and favoritism.
Source: Mybrytfmonline.com/Joseph Asare
