Ghana: Selectivity, Discrimination, Arbitrariness and Impunity

Law and Order abandoned by State and Citizens.

There is arbitrariness and impunity in how government conducts its affairs as is manifested in the COVID-19 Fund, Cathedral Project, Free-SHS, School Feeding and Land administration.

Citizens encroach State Lands and Government demolition houses often (ab)using the Military and other security services instead of the Police often without a Court Order…

Citizens illegally appropriate State Lands by encroachment or fraudulent allocations; one set, the poor and vulnerable are punished while the other set, the rich and powerful are protected…

Fraudulently Allocated State Lands and Bungalows are left in the possession of high profile personalities who paid peanuts for these prime lands; numerous petitions for the retrieval and return of these State Lands and Bungalows are ignored or resisted by government…

Illegally encroached State Lands occupied by mostly middle class and low income families are retrieved after 48hour evacuation order; the subsequent demolition exercise is selective while some are given opportunity to regularize their ownership of the same State Lands…

…200acres of encroached CSIR Lands were affected by the demolition exercise while encroaches on the remaining 800acres were to be allowed to regularize their documents and own the land?

The use of security forces other than the Police in internal civil matters is illegal and unconstitutional.

The courts and local assemblies also have a role in ordering these demolitions which is often ignored in these RAMBO-STYLE exercises…

AGBOGBLOSHIE IS A TYPICAL EXAMPLE:

After securing the Agbogbloshie land which includes the Central Mosque and the International Central Gospel Church, both of which were spared demolition despite being squatters on State Lands acquired for the Youth and Sports Ministry.

The Central Mosque was initially located at Agbogbloshie after the demolition of the Mosque at Rawlings Park, however, with the relocation to ultramodern National Mosque at Nima, the Abossey Okai Mosque Land must revert to the State or be returned to the Original Land Owners as per the Constitution of Ghana.

Pastor Mensa Otabil’s International Central Gospel Church has many Cathedrals and Churches across the country;

It is therefore strange that Pastor Mensa Otabil is allowed to continue squatting on the same State Lands that poor onion and yam sellers were yanked from, for the same reason of being squatters, at gunpoint amid gunshots and assault by the security services, under the command of the Regional Minister who is the Head of the Regional Security Council.

 

The Greater Regional Minister illegally allocated a portion of the forcibly retrieved Agbogbloshie Land to the President for his Agenda 111 Project.

Instead of President Akufo-Addo using an Executive Instrument to re-acquire portions of the Agbogbloshie Land originally acquired for the Youth and Sports Ministry, and reclassify that portion of the Land to be used by the Health Ministry for the Agenda 111, he condoned the illegality and unconstitutionality which effectively circumvented the constitutionl rights of the Original Land Owners to first refusal as per Article 20 (5) (6) of the Constitution of Ghana.

The same illegal and unconstitutional circumvention of the Constitutional Rights of the Original Land Owners was at play when President Akufo-Addo without recourse to a new Executive Instrument took over State Lands housing Judges, Regional Minister the Passport Office, Diplomatic and private property was annexed to be used for the construction of the Cathedral…

The Cathedral Land which has been transfered to a group of private persons, Directors and Trustees of the Cathedral robbing the Original Land Owners of the first refusal clause in the Constitution.

Strangely, some Civil Society and some Lawmakers are advocating for the compensation of private businesses on the State Land but not the Original Owners of the Land whose right of first refusal to reposses the land under such conditions is guaranteed under the Constitution of Ghana.

Buildings on waterways and wetlands:

All Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies were ordered by the President to demolish all buildings on waterways, wetlands, rivers and lagoons across the country to prevent flooding…

There also there is selective demolition skewed along the lines of rich and poor, high profile and unconnected.

Encroachment of Motorway and Railway Lands:

Buildings of encroachers of the Accra-Tema motorway Land were to be demolished to allow the motorway expansion into a ten-lane dual carriage and a redesign of the Tetteh Quarshie interchange but will again be selective…

The Accra Mall, Villagio, the adjoining Hotel and Shangri-la are on a major waterway and wetland and should have been demolished in accordance with the President’s recent directive to avert avert flooding…

There are many other buildings along the Accra-Tema motorway which would be affected by the proposed motorway expansion but will not be touched…

Ghanaians are asking when the Regional Security Council will move to the Cantonments Civil Aviation Land to demolish the buildings springing up on the State Land under the watch of Samuel Abu Jinapor;

Ghanaians are expecting similar demolition exercises on all State Lands including GBC, GRA, Airport Hills among others by the Greater Accra Regional Minister?

The Selectivity in the application of the bulldozer mentality of government officials targeting the poor encroachers and protecting high profile Land Looters must end.

STAY TUNED.

#SeeSomething

#SaySomething

By Prince-Derek Adjei