The Member of Parliament for Dome Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo, has called for the urgent need to register land titles for public universities in Ghana to prevent encroachment.
Speaking in Parliament today, she underscored the need to prioritize land title registration for educational institutions.
She referenced item II on page six of the report, which cited assets without ownership documents, and page 22, which identified university lands with no title certificates. According to her, the recurring nature of these issues in Auditor General reports over the years underscores a systemic failure to secure land ownership for educational institutions.
Adwoa Safo stressed that many schools, from basic to tertiary levels, are situated on lands without proper documentation, leaving them vulnerable to encroachment. The lack of title deeds, she explained, hampers these institutions’ ability to take legal action against encroachers. She emphasized that this has been a longstanding issue since her entry into Parliament in 2013, with little progress made to resolve it.
The Dome Kwabenya legislator expressed concern over the financial implications, noting that the value of these lands appreciate over time. Without proper documentation, institutions face challenges in securing additional land for expansion.
She advocated for the establishment of legal departments within universities and other educational institutions to ensure lands are properly registered and safeguarded. She called on civil and public servants in these institutions to take proactive steps in addressing this issue.
She called on the government to prioritize the protection of institutional assets to support long-term development in the education sector.
