The false claims made by Afenyo-Markin at the Vetting Committee and on the JOY NEWS PROBE must be debunked;
It is not true that much of La is State Land…
It is not true that all of Cantonments, Labone, Airport and other La Stool lands are State Lands…
There are State Lands in these areas, Acquired by the State from the La Stool.
The State through the President can by Executive Instrument or other legal means including the power of Eminent Domain acquire lands anywhere in Ghana for a particular stated public purpose for a specified period and pay appropriate compensation to the Original Land Owners.
These State Acquired Lands may be given to State institutions for the actualization of their stated mandates and are not transferable to third-parties.
The Constitution of Ghana, Article 20 (5)(6) are clear about the use and return of State Acquired Lands to the Original Pre-acquisition Land Owners when the purpose of acquisition changes.
For the avoidance of doubt; the Constitution states categorically that the Pre-acquisition Land Owners are to be given the first right of refusal should the original purpose stated for acquisition change.
ACT 1036, which is the compilation of all the Land Laws is also explicit about the issue of compensation; that fair and adequate compensation must be paid or proof of ability to effect payment of compensation be confirmed before the State acquires any Land.
The Lands adjoining the Chain Homes, including the illegal Military Cemetery, Kpletso and Tse Addo have not been acquired by the State for the Military and therefore are not State Lands nor Military Lands.
The current Attorney-General, Hon. Dominic Ayine as Deputy Attorney-General in the previous John Dramani Mahama government advised against the acquisition of these land for the military because the State could not pay the compensation that these prime lands would attract and therefore that proposal for the acquisition remain just that, a noted proposal and not an acquisition.
The Micro-Mini Minority Leader, deliberately peddled the falsehood that the Chain Homes which is a joint venture between the East La Dadekotopon Development Trust and a Private Developer was indeed on a State Land.
The motivation for the deliberate falsehood about Chain Homes was because the house of President John Dramani Mahama at Chain Homes…
These blatant falsehoods being deliberately peddled by Afenyo-Markin and others must be debunked, apologies rendered and the record expunged from the Hanzard.
La has the choicest of Prime Lands in Ghana.
It is true that La hosts almost all the Embassies in Ghana.
La hosts most of the Security Services in Ghana including the Burma Camp.
La hosts many important State facilities including the Kotoka International Airport, the Lands Commission, Educational institutions including major Universities and Secondary Schools as well as Health facilities such as the University of Ghana Medical Centre among others…
La Stool lands in specific areas were acquired for specific purposes, over specific periods for national development.
La Lands span five Municipalities, La Lands start from Peduasi through Adentan, Madina, Legon, Airport, Cantonments, Labone and has many towns and villages.
The La Stool Lands were won through WAR AND CONQUEST, and are vested in the La Stool.
The State or government cannot take any part of these lands and transfer any portion of these lands through the Lands Commission to third-parties.
Private persons particularly, government officials and their family members, friends and business associates have taken over the prime La Stool Lands, State Lands and Bungalows.
Former Lands Minister, Samuel Abu Jinapor stated on national television that the people who are revered in our society drive around on weekends looking for State Lands and Bungalows with little or no activity then come to his office to pressure him to allocate these prime lands to them at ridiculous prices.
All these illegal, criminal, unconstitutional and fraudulent allocation of State Lands and Bungalows MUST BE REVOKED BY THE PRESIDENT WHO IS THE TRUSTEE OF STATE ACQUIRED LANDS, just as has been done in the case of the mining licenses issued for mining in Forest Reserves.
The Operation Recover All Loot [ORAL] and the Vetting Committee have made public some alleged high profile Land grabbing confirming the statement of the former Lands Minister, Samuel Abu Jinapor and the long list of alleged Land Looters complete with particulars of their fraudulent land transactions which was attached to the Article 146 Petition for the removal of Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo who paid GHc7000 for prime Cantonments State Land worth millions.
The prime La Lands have become the currency for Corruption and the preferred hiding place for proceeds of Corruption and Galamsey.
Real Estate Developers have become the conduit for funneling funds from money launderers, corrupt government officials and criminals of all kinds through the annexation of these prime La Stool Lands, State Lands and Bungalows.
THE LA LAND CONFERENCE IS AN IMPERATIVE.
The La Stool Lands including cases before the courts or adjudicated upon as well as the Supreme Court interpretation of Article 20 (5)(6) of the Constitution relating to the return of State Acquired Lands to Pre-acquisition Land Owners in the Nii Kpobi Tettey Tsuru III vs Attorney General judgement must be reviewed.
The vacancies at the leadership of the La Stool following the demise of the La Mantse, La Dzasetse and Kowe-Lumoshishi Akutsotse, has been exploited to the detriment of the State and the La Stool.
Fortunately, these vacancies in the La Royal Family will soon be filled in accordance with the requirements of family lineage and bloodline so there will be an occupant of the La Stool, who together with the Custodians of the La Stool will pursue all La Stool Property including the prime La Lands and La Beaches which are the subject of Looting.
To eliminate Fraud, Corruption and Money Laundering using Land Transactions as a conduit, all La Land Transactions will be initiated with payment at the La Bank which will maintain a presence at all locations (La towns and villages) Including the La Stool Lands Secretariat to guarantee the paper trail and electronic footprint of all the Land transactions thus ensuring the transparency and accountability required by ACT 1036.
The La Stool Lands Secretariat will soon be established at the La Palace, in accordance with ACT 1036, to register all La Stool lands and ensure the proper administration of the La Stool Lands to effectively end the era of fraudulent allocation of State Lands and Bungalows, multiple sale of lands as its database will be in synch with the Land Commission database.
The digitized map of La is already available with the Lands Commission thus the Concurrent Approval of both the Stool and State to pass any Land Transaction which will be authenticated with the Seal of the La Mantse will avoid any sub-chief indiscriminately alienating La Stool Lands without rightful authority expressly from the La Stool which shall bear ultimate responsibility for the transaction.
Everybody, any institution or entity desirous of owning, leasing or retaining La Stool lands for residential or commercial purpose will be protected by the perfection of their titles by the affixing of the La Mantse Seal confirming authorization of the transaction by the La Stool.
The drama over Lands, the Land Looting and Laundering of Galamsey and Corruption money can be ended…
The falsehood about Chain Homes and other lands being tagged various personalities can be ended…
The pilot of ACT 1036 with La Stool Lands, will guide other Stools, State Lands and Bungalows across the country…
THE PUBLIC PURSE AND PUBLIC LANDS MUST BE PROTECTED.
The reluctance of various Stools across the country to release lands for national development is because of what they have seen happen to La Stool lands acquired by the State for a specific stated purpose being allocated to third-parties.
…together we can stop this nonsense…
The next phase of the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) will retrieve the Loot and return some of the Loot to the Original Land Owners…
There will be prosecution of Perpetrators…
There will be the establishment of the Presidential Commission of Enquiry into the Looted Stolen State Lands and Expropriation of GaDangme Lands…
STAY TUNED.
By Prince-Derek Adjei