The Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Samuel Jinapor, says a freeze on the allocation of state lands is under review.

If he had his way, Mr. Jinapor said the ban would already be in place in favour of posterity.

“I have a big appetite for a total ban or freeze on the grant of public lands until further notice in our country,” he said at an engagement with the staff of the Lands Commission in Accra.

“That is being examined and, perhaps, we may get to a point where we may take that view that all public lands be preserved for the time being until further notice,” Mr. Jinapor added.

The minister complained that the allocation of land had been abused by some government officials in the past.

The Lands Commission sometimes leases state lands to various customers who fulfil certain requirements.

But Mr. Jinapor said the allocation of public lands needed to be done more responsibly.

“The situation where public lands are dealt with as though they are private properties of officials, that situation must be a thing of the past.”

“Where public lands are being granted without any regard to future generations and the preservation of those lands, that cannot happen again,” Mr. Jinapor said.

Previous governments have been accused of the wanton leasing of state lands in certain areas.

But both the National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party have denied such claims when confronted on the matter.

The Lands and Natural Resources Minister at the start of the first Akufo-Addo administration, John Peter Amewu, also expressed a similar sentiment to Mr. Jinapor in 2017.