The government has launched a sweeping audit of all public lands sold in recent years, following cabinet’s approval of a recommendation to cancel state land transactions that breached due process.

The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, announced the decision during a visit by Vice President Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang to the Ministry, describing the move as a decisive step to protect state assets and ensure value for money.

According to the Minister, the exercise will subject all public land sales to both valuation and process audits to determine whether statutory requirements were fully met. He said any transaction found to have incomplete processes or procedural violations will be automatically cancelled.

“We began the processes of reviewing. One of the things that we all heard is that public lands that the government had taken for specific purposes, some for agriculture, somehow, the people who had been given the charge to protect these lands were abusing them,” Mr Armah-Kofi Buah said.

He disclosed that cabinet has approved the constitution of a special team, led by his Deputy Minister, to carry out the audit and strictly implement the directive.

“We constituted a team led by my able Deputy, and we got Cabinet approval to address that. By the time we finish, it will not cross the mind of any government official to take public lands because we will publish your name in every newspaper,” he warned.

The Lands Minister stressed that every public land transaction completed in recent years is under review, with emphasis on ensuring that the state received full value and that all required procedures were followed.

“All public lands that had been sold are going under review to make sure there is value for money, and a process audit was done. Those that didn’t finish the processes are automatically cancelled. We are going on to ensure we implement it to give confidence to the people of Ghana that we are going to protect public lands,” he said.

Mr Armah-Kofi Buah assured Ghanaians that the Ministry will strictly enforce Cabinet’s directive, adding that officials found culpable will be sanctioned as part of broader efforts to restore public confidence in land administration and safeguard state lands for their intended public use.