In adherence to tradition, the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands organized its 26th Annual Performance Review Conference to review the past year and strategize for the year ahead within the first quarter of each calendar year. This is the first time an in-person meeting is been held after two years due to austerity measures put in place by the Ministry of Finance.
Purpose
The meeting was to assess the year 2023, identify our shortfalls, find ways to improve them and set our objectives and targets for 2024. As well as, share ideas on operational issues to help us attain our set targets. As part of the meeting, Members discussed the strategic plan of the Office, the 2024 Human Resource training plan, public education, targets for 2024, Audit matters and further, aspects of the drafted OASL Act and the guidelines for the use of Stool Land revenue by beneficiary Districts.
Achievement on Revenue Mobilization
Highlighting on achievements, the Administrator of Stool Lands, Mrs. Maame Ama Edumadze Acquah said, “in 2023, we set for ourselves a target of GH¢142,229,889.90. At the end of the year, we mobilised an amount of GH¢150,573,709.59 from all sources, thus exceeding our target by 5.87%. Again, the Office challenged itself to upgrade the Upper East District Office into a fully-fledged Regional Office. I am happy to announce that, this has been achieved through the hard work of Management and Staff of the region.
This brings the total number of Regional Offices to ten. Management will continue to look at creating new regions from the over-burdened Northern and Bono Regions in the near future”.
Achievement on Digitalization
The GIZ has successfully handed over the OASL RevApp to the Office. The the onus now lies on us to ensure that our efforts at digitalising our operations throughout the country sees the light of day. It is for this reason that we have chosen our theme for this year as “Consolidating the Digitalisation Agenda for effective Revenue Mobilisation”.
So far, the system has been rolled out in seventy operational Districts across nine regions in the Country. However, the Office is looking for ways to further improve on the public portal to enhance electronic payments.
Minister’s Committment
In a speech, delivered on behalf of the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Hon. Benito Owusu-Bio, Deputy Minister responsible for Lands and Forestry, congratulated the Office on exceeding the revenue mobilisation target by 5% for the year, 2023 and urged the Office to use all available resources to do even more in 2024. Again, he also applauded Management on the upgrade of the Upper East District Office to a Regional status, which makes the Office operational in nine District Offices and two Revenue collection points in the Region. He believes this will improve stakeholder interaction and revenue mobilization.
Hon. Owusu-Bio pledged that, the Ministry will be on standby to provide the Office with necessary support, especially the acquisition of Land to construct official residence for the Administrator of Stool Lands, Office accommodation for the Head Office, issuance of guidelines for the utilization of Stool Lands revenue by the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and the passage of the new OASL bill into an act. On the passage of the bill, he mentioned that, the Ministry is collaborating with Parliament to ensure the bill is passed before the end of the year. He further urged the Office to collaborate with stakeholders to facilitate the opening of Regional Offices in the six remaining regions despite challenges.
Creation of New Regional Offices
In response to the opening of new Regional Offices and its challenges, the Administrator of Stool Lands stated that, the Office is analysing the cost-benefit of splitting Bono-Bono East and Savannah-North-East Regions before the end of the year. Other challenges she explained, has to do with recruitment of human resource to work in those Regions, however, financial clearance was not approved by the Ministry of Finance to recruit. Another challenge is the chieftaincy conflict in some parts of the northern sector of the country.
The Deputy Minister suggested that Management should write to the Ministry of Finance, stating clearly the need to recruit. Which is also inline with Government’s decentralization agenda for financial clearance. He is confident the request will be granted to recruit more Officers to facilitate the creation of new Regional Offices across the Country.
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