The Lands Commission has interdicted 14 staff members for their involvement in Stamp Duty fraud.
The fraud was detected in May 2022 when the Audit Unit of the Commission discovered that some property owners had paid less tax than expected for the registration of their properties.
The fraud is alleged to involve a tax loss of GH¢100 million. The affected staff are being taken through court processes by the National Investigations Bureau.
Mr Benjamin Arthur, the Acting Executive Secretary of the Commission, announced this during the Executive Secretary’s Annual Briefing and launching of the Staff Awards Scheme in Accra on Friday. However, after further investigations, the Commission realized that the amount had been exaggerated.
The Commission had also taken internal disciplinary action against the suspects and is undergoing final disciplinary processes to determine their fate with the Commission, according to Mr Arthur. Meanwhile, some Commission staff were also being taken through disciplinary procedures for fraudulent deletion and insertion of records to produce false search reports.
Mr Arthur said that while management would continue to provide job security for staff, acts of indiscipline and fraud would not be condoned. Therefore, management would provide state investigation bodies with the required assistance to weed out the bad nuts among them.
The event also saw the outdooring of a five-year Business Strategic Plan of the Commission from 2023 to 2027, which will guide its operations. The strategic plan has five major goals, including enhancing the Commission’s financial sustainability, digital reforms and corporate image, as well as the competence and discipline of staff to improve service delivery.
Mr Arthur announced that this year the Commission would launch an outreach program named “You Deserve to Know” campaign, to educate the public about several aspects of its operations and activities.
The campaign would focus on creating public awareness of the Commission’s mandate, service delivery and specific processes in delivering those services, the fees chargeable for the services, and digital reform platforms, among many others. That would enhance the corporate image of the Commission, public trust, and confidence in its operations.
Mr Arthur observed that in Ghana, workers of the Lands Commission are perceived as taking the “biggest bribes,” and other media reports on the performance of the Commission often focus on its shortcomings, while little is reported on the efforts and good works of the Commission. The outreach campaign is intended to correct these misconceptions and create a positive corporate image going forward.
However, the Acting Executive Secretary was quick to explain that its corporate image redemption drive could only succeed if it was associated with improvements in service delivery to the public. Mr Arthur, therefore, called for teamwork among staff and management to complement one another and achieve the desired outcomes.
Mr Benito Owusu-Bio, a Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, highlighted the Ministry’s plans for this year, including digital transformation of land administration activities, completion of the new Lands Commission’s head office, which would be commissioned in April this year, and enhancement of the Commission’s corporate image.
He expressed confidence in the Commission’s leadership and believed that it was heading in the right direction. “Ghanaians will overwhelmingly vouch for the credibility and efficiency of the Commission sooner or later,” he said.
