The Lands Commission has begun a new process to eliminate the longstanding problem of multiple titles being issued for the same parcel of land, while a ban on the sale of state lands in Accra remains firmly in place, Acting Executive Secretary Prof. Anthony Owusu-Ansah has said.
Speaking on Hot Issues on TV3, Owusu-Ansah clarified the scope of the Commission’s authority, noting that its oversight and record-keeping powers extend only to state lands. Private land transactions fall outside its direct control. “We have records and control over state lands because we manage those lands, but not private lands,” he said.
On the double titling problem, which has been a persistent source of land disputes across Ghana, Owusu-Ansah said the Commission was addressing it at the root by reforming how title plans are generated from the start of the documentation process. “A process has begun for the title plan of lands to be done from the beginning to solve the problem of double certification of lands,” he stated.
He also identified local assemblies as a contributing factor to delays in land certification, noting that processing times for planning permits at the assembly level frequently slow down the wider documentation chain. “Some of the land certification delays come from the assemblies when the planning permit is being processed,” he said.
On the broader question of state land sales, Owusu-Ansah confirmed that a government-appointed committee had completed its review of the policy and submitted its findings to Cabinet, and that the Commission was awaiting ministerial direction before taking further steps. In the meantime, the existing restrictions remain binding. “There is still a ban on the sale of state lands in the capital, and even outside the capital, if the value is more than 500,000 per acre, a lease cannot be granted,” he said.
Owusu-Ansah, a Professor of Real Estate Finance and Economics and former Head of Department at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), was appointed to lead the Commission in April 2025.
