La Land Looting & Landgrab: A historical perspective and contemporary remedy

La Lands were acquired through conquest – WAR – with blood of the ancestors; so their descendants cannot be dispossessed of the Lands and rendered Landless destitutes by Executive Instruments, Land Looting and fraudulent allocations…

La has the choicest of Lands stretching from Peduase through Adenta, Madina, Legon, Airport, Cantonments, Labone and backwards through Ajangorte, Kuntunase towards Nsawam.

The La People were great warriors and farmers and fisherfolk but foremost Land Owners.

The NUNGUA people initially owned the Lands, then were pushed eastwards by the GA-MASHIE people.

The LA People fought both the NUNGUA and GA-MASHIE people, pushing them both to occupy the centre…

The Ga People are not homogenous, and arrived at different times, some by Sea and others by Land…

Everybody knows about the Legend of Sowah Gborbilor and Borkitey Larweh, to end the LA-NUNGUA WARS…

The cutting of the hand of the NUNGUA Leader, Borkitey Larweh who cursed them and run off into the sea leaving eternal footprints in the sand…

The incessant wars between the LA People and the GA-MASHIE People were resolved by the Colonial powers who wanted peace to undertake their trading activities.

LA and GA-MASHIE had a boundary at the Victoriaborg Press near the CEPS HEADQUARTERS in Accra.

Osu was created as a buffer zone between LA and GA-MASHIE, meandering along their boundaries including ACHIMOTA FOREST…

Osu People were La, GA-MASHIE, Christians, children of the Colonial masters born with the natives, and slaves from previous battles…

TESHIE is essentially the outskirts of LA and therefore LA LAND.

TESHIE was created when a LA War General and Royal was banished with his followers in a bid to bring about lasting Peace, TESHIE People are therefore La People and are as much entitled to La Lands as La People provided they invoke their La Royal ancestry…

TESHIE People during their Homowo chew Sugarcane and litter LA amid taunting songs in remembrance of their La lineage and stubborn departure from La.

That said, La-Osu-Teshie have a common umbilical cord to the vast Lands of LA which were acquired through conquest and efforts to end the wars with NUNGUA and GA-MASHIE.

Ga People do not kill prisoners of war but assimilate them into their fold by assigning them roles and responsibilities, typical example in La is the NUNGUA People who were captured under rocks by the LA warriors were made Ambassadors of LA and allowed to keep their god…

On their way to Present day La, they encountered a group of EWE people who had their own Chief and Stool, LA accommodated them in La and gave them the role of Caretaker in the event of the demise of the La Mantse but reserved the powers of the La Mantse with the Stool|Jaase and the Wulomo.

The Ga People were a Religious People led by Wulomei|Priests.

Part of the power was retained by the Chief and part given to the Wulomo, so the Chief|Mantse can focus on other responsibilities while the Wulomo performed the religious duties on his behalf…

Unlike the Ashanti who united under the Golden Stool; the Ga and Dangme People united at KATAMANSO to defeat the Ashanti in war.

There was an objective of Landgrab in ancient times too, through wars and conquest, today it is done by the stroke of a pen.

The significance of the Katamanso War was to end the southward march to take over Ga Lands and the sworn oath [ntam] to literally push the Ga People into the sea, into the belly of the little fish- Nkanfram: Katamanso thus was corrupted Akan “wu ka ntam a wu besu”, to wit you will cry over the oath you swore…

The quest by some to render the Ga People Landless has not ended, Executive Instruments and fraudulent allocation of Ga Lands acquired by the State has become the weapon of choice.

Unfortunately, some Ga Chiefs, some Ga People, some Government Officials and some Goro-Boys have been at the heart of this heartless Genocidal enterprise…

ACT 2 of 1960, also known as the “Protection of Purchasers Law” was used to degrade the authority of Ga Chiefs over their lands;

ACT 2 basically allowed any thief to randomly steal any Ga Land by building quickly to lintel level on the blind side of the Ga Chiefs and People…

The obnoxious ACT 2 was not operational in all of Ghana but limited only to specific areas including Accra.

The discriminatory ACT 2 gave birth to the unplanned indiscriminate buildings in Accra, multiple sale of Lands and the phenomenon of Landguardism where people were forced to protect their lands or to steal lands without the structures being demolished before reaching the lintel level.

The indiscriminate and unplanned building was everywhere in Accra, even in waterways…

Those who were Landguards by day became armed robbers by night and during election time were available for hire…

Then came the Nii Kpobi Tettey Tsuru vs Attorney General judgement, the cardinal sin in Ghana’s Judiciary!

This wrongful interpretation of Article 20 of the 1992 Constitution opened the floodgates for the Land Looters and Corrupt Government officials to form an alliance to grab State Acquired Lands whiles others went grabbing anything in sight to be subsequently ratified by their collaborators at Lands Commission who falsified documents or by an Executive Instrument.

The Supreme Court wrongfully equating PUBLIC INTEREST and PUBLIC PURPOSE to mean the same thing, thus allowing government to Compulsorily take Lands from one set of people for a particular purpose and turn around and hand it over to other private persons, usually family and friends FOREVER.

Just as Zoomlion was created out of La Lands fraudulently allocated to a bankrupt Joseph Siaw Agyepong  [Jospong] by President Agyekum Kufuor, many more Ghanaian Entrepreneurs can be legally assisted with Lands to create Mega Companies.

The current Landgrab has made the sin of the Supreme Court wrongful judgment apparent for all to see and a review of the Nii Kpobi Tettey Tsuru vs Attorney an imperative.

Did you Know that the Achimota Forest Lands are actually La Lands and not the Owoo family Lands?

Did you also know that a portion of the Achimota Forest Lands is Osu Lands by virtue of the Buffer created between LA and GA-MASHIE?

Please refer to the attached certified documents from the National Archives of Ghana confirming the Achimota Forest Lands Ownership.

1. I. 432 vs E. I. 144

An Executive Instrument in practice is like a Will OF THE PRESIDENT but must not be used to give away State Assets or Property least of all Lands as FREEHOLD to friends and family FOREVER.

Article 267(1) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana provides that “All stool lands in Ghana shall vest in the appropriate stool on behalf of, and in trust for the subjects of the stool in accordance with customary law and usage.”

Clause 5 of the same article provides that “Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, no interest in, or right over, any stool land in Ghana shall be created which vests in any person or body of persons a FREEHOLD interest howsoever described.”

The policy position of Government to return State Acquired Lands including Military Baracks to the Ashantihene in trust for the Subjects of the GOLDEN STOOL should underpin all releases of State Acquired Lands to the Original Land Owners…

All La Lands including those stolen by the Military or individuals claiming to have bought the prime Airport Lands from the military or stealing in the name of the Military as in the case of Kpletso must be returned to the La Stool through the La Mantse.

The ill-researched, ill-advised E. I. 144 which wrongfully purported to return Achimota Forest Lands to a click was a scam that must be immediately reversed.

Public Commission of Enquiry into all State Acquired Lands, Leases, Subleases, Grants and Title

Certificate is an imperative…

Ghanaians are resolved to be Citizens and not Spectators.

#StopLandLooters

#FixTheCountry

By Prince-Derek Adjei