The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources on Monday began a two-day sensitization workshop to educate traditional rulers and assembly members in the Nkoranza Traditional Area on the functions of the Customary Land Secretariats (CLS).
The participants were taken through topics including "Causes and Effects of Land Disputes, Importance of Land Documentation, Benefits of CLS and the Record and Financial Management at the CLS.
Mr George Nti, a facilitator from the Land Administration Project of the Ministry said statistics had shown that more than 50 percent of the country's lands were owned by traditional authorities while the government controlled just about 20 percent of them.
"It is unfortunate that because of struggles among the people with regards to the ownership to such lands there are a number of disputes and problems on many lands across the country as some people also encroach on other lands," he said.
Mr Nti stressed the need for land owners and investors to cover the lands they owned with relevant documents so as to check people from encroaching.
He commended development partners and foreign donors like the World Bank, UK Department for International Development, Danish International Development Agency and The German Technical Cooperation for offering the necessary financial support to the government towards proper and effective management of lands.
Reverend Twumasi Peprah, Administrator of the Nkoranza Office of Customary Land Secretariat said the office had managed to settle some land disputes in the communities and that it was in the process of withdrawing Nkoranza land dispute cases from courts for resolution at the secretariat.
He said the CLS office had computerised the records of all lands at Nkoranza so that particular lands could not be owned by two or more people.
Mr Owusu Asare of the Lands Administration Project stressed the need for traditional rulers and assembly members to educate their people to patronize the activities of the CLS so that land disputes could be minimized.
Nana Ofori Amisare Okofo VIII, Akwamuhene of Nkoranza who presided, expressed gratitude to the ministry for organising the workshop to help promote peace and understanding among the people.