The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor has dismissed allegations of state capture by government appointees and cronies.

According to him, claims that the government is indiscriminately selling public lands are false and without merit.

“The allegations of state capture and the narrative that this government is indiscriminately selling public lands, are all palpably false, without merit, and, obviously, actuated by political considerations given that we are nearing elections,” he said.

During a press briefing at the Ministry of Information on Wednesday, August 14, Mr Jinapor clarified that just as successive governments have been acquiring lands, every government has granted some of these public lands to private entities for various developmental purposes.

However, he said that some people have packaged some of these lands which were granted to private developers decades ago and presented them as evidence of what they have termed “State Capture.”

He cited the bungalows belonging to the Judicial Service in Cantonments which were reportedly sold by the government to private developers.

“These bungalows in question, were, however, sold as far back as 13th July 2015 to Frimps Oil Company Ltd., following an approval granted by the then Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Hon. Nii Osah Mills, on 2nd June 2015. Is it, therefore, not surprising that the very people who supervised the sale of this property to Frimps Oil Company Ltd. will turn around and accuse the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government of state capture,” he questioned.

The Lands Minister stated that the evidence they have presented shows that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government has been meticulous in protecting public lands in the public interest.

He said that a policy directive was issued to the Lands Commission, on August 17, 2021, with the approval of President Akufo-Addo, pursuant to Article 258(2) of the Constitution to “refer all transactions relating to the grant of any interest in public land to [the office of the Minister] for prior approval.”

“Aside from these preventive measures, pursuant to section 236 of the Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036), which enjoins the State to take steps to recover encroached public lands, the Ministry constituted a Public Lands Protection Team to work with the Lands Commission to protect public lands from encroachment and recover those that have already been encroached.

“The Team, in collaboration with the Lands Commission and the Ghana Police Service, has undertaken a number of operations to recover encroached public lands. The Commission is, also, working with the Ghana Police Service to provide protection for all public lands and prevent them from further encroachment,” Mr Jinapor added.