CUSTOMARY LAND Secretariats (CLS) for Yoo and Naton Traditional Authorities in the Northern region have been inaugurated to partner government to ensure transparency and effective land management in the area.
The Municipal Chief Executive of the Savelugu-Naton Municipality, Mr. Abdulai Alhassan Red, during the inauguration thanked the Ghana Land Administration Project (LAP-2) and the Office of Administrator of Stool Lands for providing the Yoo and Naton Traditional Authorities with Customary Land Secretariats.
He said the development of every nation, region, district or community depends very much on how it is able to manage its land resources as well as good record keeping of all land transactions to end all land related conflicts in the traditional area.
The MCE made this call at separate inaugurations of both Yoo (Savelugu) and Naton Customary Land Secretariats in the Savelugu-Naton Municipality of the Northern.
He said the Better Ghana Agenda of the National Democratic Congress government seeks to improve the living conditions of every Ghanaian, only if all would play their respective roles and also ensure transparency in their respective corners.
The MCE noted that by applying for the Secretariats to be established in their respective areas, the Yoo-Na and Naton-Na have demonstrated that they believed in transparency in the administration of lands under their care to develop their traditional areas.
He called on the staff of the Secretariats to work with open mindedness so as to achieve the objective for which the land secretariats were established and also help the government achieve the Better Ghana Agenda.
Mr. Abdulai Alhassan Red also appealed to the Eminent Chiefs to also take advantage of the other initiatives the project offers.
Mr. Abdul Rahaman Mohammed, deputizing for Mba Yoo-Na Abukari VII, paramount Chief of the Savelugu Traditional Area, commended the government and the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands in particular for making it possible for his area to benefit from this laudable initiative.
Yoo-Na said the purpose of the CLS was to promote better land management at the local level by recording of land transactions and facilitating land registration at the Lands Commission.
He noted that the establishment of the CLS was a comprehensive tool for job creation, poverty reduction and the empowerment of rural people in contributing to developing the country’s economy.
The Yoo Na assured that his Traditional Authority would cooperate fully with all stakeholders in promoting good land administration in the traditional area and avail themselves to take advantage of the Customary Boundary Demarcation (CBD) offered by the project to promote better land tenure security.
Inaugurating the Secretariats, the Administrator of Stool Lands, Mrs. Christie Esi Bobobee, commended the Yoo-Na and Naton-Na Traditional Authorities for demonstrating a resolve to improve land management within their jurisdictions by accepting the challenge to put in place relevant structures as indicated by the establishment of the Customary Land Secretariats (CLS) in their respective Traditional Areas.
She called on the Traditional Authorities to ensure that the CLS facility delivers better outcomes in their land management regime for the benefit of present and future generations.
“The relationship between the Land Management Committee (LMC) and the Traditional Authority on the one hand; and the LMC and staff of the CLS should be based on mutual co-operation, respect, understanding, trust and collaboration. As an authority, you must Endeavour to ensure that all relevant information on land transactions are delivered to the CLS to enable them record and document such transactions “she opined.
She added that the CLS staff should exemplify transparency in their assigned tasks and never see themselves as land owners but as administrators providing invaluable services to ensure that land management records and documents were managed efficiently.
The Stool Lands Administrator also called on the Traditional Authorities to take advantage of the Customary Boundary Demarcation (CBD) to get their Paramount areas clearly surveyed, demarcated and pillared in order to get a proprietary plan registered as well as other laudable initiatives under LAP-2.
Representatives of implementing agencies of the project including the Lands Commission, Coalition of Civil Society on Land (CICOL) and Town and Country Planning Department, among others, graced the inaugural ceremonies.
Pix: Mba Yoo Na Abukari VII paramount Chief of the Savelugu Traditional Area
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