The Minority in Parliament is demanding the government publish a comprehensive list of all public assets across the country, stressing that this is crucial to ensuring their protection and security.
The call follows an admission by the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources Samuel Abu Jinapor to Parliament’s Assurances Committee that he lacks full knowledge of the status of state lands.
Chairman of the Committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, emphasized that the only way to prevent the illegal sale and mismanagement of public assets is through the creation of a State Asset Registry.
Ablakwa underscored the lack of transparency in the government’s management of state assets, including public lands and government-owned bungalows.
“Are you aware, ladies and gentlemen, that if you ask our ministers today how many bungalows we have, they can’t tell you? It’s not only state lands that they can’t account for,” Ablakwa stated and stressed the government’s inability to provide accurate information on state assets.
Ablakwa criticized the government’s inconsistency, noting that while officials are quick to identify and sell bungalows under the so-called agrarian development policy, they are unable to provide Parliament with details of these properties’ locations.
This discrepancy, he argued, is indicative of deeper issues within the government’s asset management practices.
The Minority Caucus is advocating for legislation to establish a State Asset Registry, which would also prohibit politicians and politically exposed persons from purchasing state assets.
This proposal is a key component of a Private Members’ Bill that the Caucus is sponsoring.
In response to a challenge by the Lands Minister to provide evidence of land grabs and state capture, Ablakwa vowed that the Minority would systematically present such evidence.
He accused the government of deliberately avoiding transparency to facilitate the continued ‘wanton dissipation, land grab, and state capture.’
“They don’t want sunshine, they don’t want to be transparent so that the wanton dissipation, the land grab, the state capture will continue,” Ablakwa asserted.
The North Tongu MP expressed the Minority’s commitment to revealing further evidence of the alleged misconduct, promising to counter what he describes as the government’s weak and insufficient defence against these serious accusations.
