As the nation counts its blessings on recent oil discoveries in parts of the country, the oil rich communities are bemused with what they refer to as indiscriminate selling of lands. One such community is the West border of the Sekondi Takoradi Metropolis. According to District Chief Executive of the area, Kwasi Biney, many chiefs and family heads think it is their ‘cocoa season’ and has therefore yielded to the temptation of selling the land. Mr. Biney fears there would be no land for posterity to live on. In an interview with Joy News on Monday Mr. Biney indicated that companies and individuals go straight to family heads and chiefs to acquire huge tracts of land without recourse to the District Assembly. “Since the district assembly does not control the land and by our constitution and tradition the chiefs and family heads are custodians of our land, sometimes there is very little we can do” Mr. Biney said helplessly. But an oil and gas technical committee set up to ensure the efficient management of the oil says, the indiscriminate selling of land in those communities would be addressed. According to Professor Appiadu, a member of the committee who spoke to Dzifa Bampoe on News night, a legal regime under this committee has been tasked to oversee the sale of land. He however stopped short of providing details of how this regime would go about regulating the sale of land, saying the committee would have to be given some more time in order to come out with a comprehensive plan. He however advised traditional authorities to be cautious of the size of land they give out to institutions, adding that a lot more education needs to be done in order to protect the interest of these societies. On how the oil revenue would be distributed, Prof Appiadu said an oil development fund has been proposed by the technical committee, which would consider a formula to equitably distribute resources to various interest groups and stake holders. “The money is for Ghanaians now, and for the future generation. What we can do is to ensure that every body in Ghana benefits from it”. He emphasized. Author: Nathan Gadugah