Information stumbled upon by Ghananewsonline.com.gh has it that tension is mounting at Pokuase a suburb of Accra over ‘Agric land’.
According to our information, the said land belongs to Eleven families as rightful owners. It is recorded to have been acquired in 1947 by the then government for piggery farming; but due to alleged influx of tsetse flies it could not be used for that purpose. However, it was used for other agricultural purposes such as seed improvement, animal research and animal husbandry under the auspices of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) (which is why it got the name ‘Agric Land’.
The Eleven families comprise the Nii Dodoo Cobbla Family, Nii Kpakpo Oti Family, Nii Amoo Ankrah Family, Nii Djan Family and Nii Offei Kojo Family. The rest are RT Dodoo, DBK Mensah, Benjamin Abotsi Ntreh, Virginia Ajo Kpakpo, Adjuah Nyarko and Ayikailey.
They revealed that the land was leased to the government for 50 years. But, it is obvious that after 75 years the lease agreement between them and the government has long elapsed, and so, naturally, the land should be reverted to its rightful owners.
They maintained further that as law abiding citizens, they have written several letters to the current government but have not had any response. Then as they impatiently wait for response from the government, all they could see were scores of estate developers trooping unto the land seeking to explore the place into an estate development or Affordable housing.
The land owners maintain that on April 12, 2023, the estate developers converged on a parcel of land near the Olympic stadium at Amasaman to carry out their business, but when they (land owners) got wind of this move, they stormed the place and drove them all away.
According to our information, the estate developers reportedly marshaled forces from the police and the military to storm the place within the week to still carry out out their business, calling the bluff of the landowners.
We are waiting for them.
Our information also has it that, family members of the allodial landowners on the other hand have also vowed to meet the estate developers squarely for a face-off.
“We cannot sit down for intruders, strangers to take over our bonafide property. We shall resist this by all legal means,” they told our news hound.
It would be recalled that, in our last publication on this issue, we stated that, allodial land owners at Pokuase had clashed with estate developers over the said land
By SO Ankamah