The desire by Zhen Jing Yu, a Chinese national, to invest in Ghana has met resistance as sand winners and landguards pounced on, and assaulted him after trespassing on his land.
“Mild conductive hearing loss at 1000 Hz and 2000 Hz”, said the audiological evaluation report issued by the hearing assessment centre at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital on 25th November 2020, after assessing the ear of Zhen.
Zhen was assaulted by landguards and sand winners when he attempted to prevent them from creating a thoroughfare through the 24-acre land acquired by Brother Li Ltd a Chinese investment company at Teacher-Mante in the Eastern region for the establishment of an industrial park.
The sand winners had created the passage through the 24-acre land as a short route for their daily transportation of sand which they sell to contractors.
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“Now I cannot hear properly in my left ear,” the Chinese investor told a team of journalists investigating the impact of activities of landguards and sand winners on the work of investors in the Eastern region.
Zhen is a partner in Brother Li Company Ltd, a Chinese investment consortium, seeking to establish manufacturing concerns under the government’s One District One Factory (1D1F) program on the land at Teacher Mante.
“My workers called me on November 17 that some people were busy digging through our land with earth moving machines. So I came and asked them why they broke the fence to create a road through our land. The contractor came with about 20 landguards and started beating me,” Zhen alleged.
He added: “They slapped me a lot of times, and pointed a pistol at my forehead. They then used the butt of an AK47 rifle to hit my right shoulder and my left ear. They later dragged me into my car and threatened me to leave my own land.”
Kofi Akule, the caretaker of the land corroborated the allegation adding that the contractor and the landguards cast insinuations at the Chinese investors asking them if they had carried any land from their country to Ghana.
The case was first reported to the police station at Teacher-Mante, and then to the Property Fraud Unit at the police headquarters.
The team of journalists observed a thoroughfare through the parcel of land still in use by trucks which load sand from Governorkrom to other parts of the Eastern region.
Inspector Hope Hukporti, the Station Officer of the Teacher-Mante Police Post, confirmed that such an assault-cum-land case had been reported to the station, adding, “We are still investigating the matter.”
With seven different partnering firms the Chinese consortium seeks to invest an initial capital of US$20 million in furniture, vegetable processing and construction equipment manufacturing companies on the land.
“When we put up all the factories, we can employ at least 5,000 youth from Teacher-Mante and surrounding communities,” Xiao Zhonghua a partner in the consortium said.
He explained that the project which should have started earlier in the year got stalled by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nana Ayisi Kwayisi, the Branhene of the Teacher Mante traditional area, who was later briefed by the investors promised to help to find an amicable solution to the issue.
“I need jobs for my people, so if an investor is ready to invest in such a project here, I will not sit down unconcerned for others to destroy the opportunity,” he added