The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has urged directors, CEOs, and agency heads under the Ministry to significantly boost their performance in 2026, describing the year as pivotal for the government’s reset agenda.

Speaking at the Ministry’s start-of-year retreat, Mr Buah said the government’s second year in office requires stronger commitment, clearer results, and measurable progress in line with President John Dramani Mahama’s vision. He called the Lands and Natural Resources Ministry the “heartbeat of the country” and stressed that all stakeholders must be fully invested in its objectives.

“This year, 2026, is a decisive year. Ghanaians have been patient with us, but this is the year our citizens will demand more answers, and we cannot afford to fail them,” he said.

Mr Buah emphasised deliberate planning, regular performance reviews, and accountability.

“The only way we can achieve our goals is to strategise. Every quarter, we must commit to the plan, check our KPIs, and hold ourselves accountable so that by year-end, we can confidently say we delivered,” he added.

The Minister also called for stronger collaboration across the lands, mines, and forestry sub-sectors to maximise output. Key growth areas highlighted during the retreat included ecotourism and climate action, with Mr Buah pointing to the untapped potential of forest reserves in the Western Region, including Ankasa.

Addressing participants, the President of the Western Regional House of Chiefs, Nana Kobina Nketsia V, praised the Ministry’s leadership and urged strategies anchored in history, culture, and local realities. He warned that legal frameworks copied wholesale from foreign systems continue to fuel land disputes and called for genuine decentralisation and digitalisation of land administration.

Nana Nketsia also challenged participants to rethink poverty and value creation in the extractive sector. “The person who truly needs my resources is not me; it is the one sitting abroad who depends on them,” he noted.

The three-day retreat, which brought together directors, CEOs, and agency heads, provided a platform to review 2025 performance and set strategic priorities for 2026.