Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawaumia has reassured Ghanaians that the Akufo-Addo government will take the digitalization of land very seriously.

He described the bottlenecks associated with land registration in Ghana a major problem which needed to be addressed within the shortest period.

At a visit to the Land Registration Division of the Lands Commission in Accra, the Vice President said government has been thinking of streamlining the process of Land Registration and Land Acquisition in the country.

“We have been living with this problem in Ghana for years but we are not changing it. This is time for us to change the system” frustrated Bawumia said.

“We cannot accept the status quo and the directions of the President are clear, we have to bring change in this whole process of acquisition of land” he added.

The Vice President who was on a visit to familiarize with the processes at the Lands Commission said land is key in the development of many countries.

“For Ghana land is not part of the process in many cases and that does not allow the development of the mortgage market” he stressed.

Dr Bawumia at the 21st National Banking Conference in Accra promised that the next phase of digitization in 2018 will occur in the land sector.

This he said will promote transparency and efficiency in land administration and ease the bottlenecks associated with land registration in Ghana.

Dr. Bawumia wondered how a mortgage market could be developed without being able to ascertain a title to a land and described the situation as the bane of the banking and financial services industry.

He was optimistic that by the end of 2018, all land records in Ghana would be digital.