Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has said the base mapping survey started by the government will help address the poor land management system in the country.

Speaking at the inauguration of the 335 Place Building in Accra, Dr Bawumia said steps are being taken to address the problem.

“It’s been a problematic area in Ghana for many years”, he said, adding: “And this is why we believe as a government, it is one of the critical areas of reform that we should be engaged in.”

Earlier in the year, the government invited experts from various countries to develop a roadmap for the digitisation of all the land records in Ghana.

“This road map is currently being implemented and what we are trying to do is to make sure that we get out of that situation where you want to buy a piece of land and you don’t really know who owns that land, and you may end up buying it three or four times and still not know who owns that piece of land,” Dr Bawumia stated.

In December 2017, the government promised to digitise all land registration processes in the country as part of measures to prevent multiple sale of land.

Dr Bawumia, who made the announcement, said with the introduction of digital land registration systems, it would help people to check and verify the original owners of lands before buying them.

“We really want to focus on the land sector and digitise our records on lands”, he said, adding that “every part of the land registration process would be digitised”.

The vice-president was speaking at the official opening of the 2017 Innovation Week organised by the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in Accra.