Outgoing Executive Director the of the Lands Commission, James Dadson has disclosed that the commission has begun rolling out measures to eliminate the services of unauthorized intermediaries commonly referred to as ‘goro boys.’ This comes after a 2021 report published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, (UNDOC) revealed that the lands commission is the institution that received the highest average bribe seize of GHC 1, 669 in 2021.
Reacting to the report at a forum organized by the lands commission, Mr. Dadson noted that although he does not dispute the report, he believes that the findings are as a result of the activities of some unauthorized persons posing as intermediaries between customers and the lands commission.
That notwithstanding, Mr. Dadson noted that some innovative steps are being taken to eliminate the activities of these ‘goro boys.’ Some of these steps according to him, include digitization of lands administration services, modernized records management system, delivery and compliance dashboard, online payment of fees and receipts, infrastructural development among others.
He added that under the auspices of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resource, the Lands Commission has commenced processes to engage experts in the private sector to transform operations of the Lands Commission as mitigating strategies, way forward and the expected outcome.
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Benito Owusu-Bio charged the commission to effectively deal with the issues identified in the UNODC report. He also stated that, a number of interventions are being pursued by the ministry to scale up the commencement of Land Administration Reform project before the end of the year.
