Ghanaian legal scholar and social commentator, Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, affectionately known as Kwaku Azar, has thrown his weight behind President John Dramani Mahama’s decision to halt all state land transactions.
He described the directive as bold, necessary, and long overdue, calling on Ghanaians to rally behind it rather than reduce it to partisan politics.
The NPP Minority in Parliament has criticised the ban, warning it could hurt private sector operations and reduce revenue for the Lands Commission.
But in a social media post on Tuesday, July 15, Prof Azar asserted that the measure is a critical step toward ending years of corruption and abuse in the administration of public lands.
“President Mahama’s directive to halt all state land transactions is bold, necessary, and long overdue. It deserves public support, not partisan resistance,” Prof Azar wrote.
The legal scholar argued that although such a sweeping measure may inconvenience some individuals and businesses, it is vital for addressing systemic rot in the management of state lands.
“These acts are not isolated mistakes; they represent a pattern of willful self-dealing, insider enrichment, and abuse of office that has led to the loss of critical public assets, especially in prime urban locations,” he stated.
President Mahama, in a letter dated January 10, 2025, directed the Lands Commission to suspend all sales, leases, and processing of public lands.
He said the move was part of efforts to sanitize the system and recover lands that have been allocated under questionable circumstances.
