The Minister for Defence, Dominic Nitiwul, has vowed to retrieve and secure every land legally acquired by the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) to protect future development.
According to him, the Armed Forces is an important institution of state, therefore, the public should stop the idea of thinking that they can get land allocated to the army.
Mr Nitiwul warned that army lands leased to individuals and private developers even by the Lands Commission would be retrieved for future use.
The minister gave the stern warning while on a working tour to inspect some on-going projects at the Burma Camp, Teshie, Airport Residential Area and the Airport Hills yesterday.
“We will take it from you even if it is a mistake that the Lands Commission gave you (the land), we will take it back. There are lots of members of the Ghana Armed Forces who do not have accommodation, so we cannot keep giving land that the government has acquired in the colonial time to the people to build their private homes,” he intimated.
The project sites
He said the Defence Ministry would by December, this year, complete most of the US$100 million Chinese loan projects which include warehouses, housing units and academic blocks for the Armed Forces.
According to him, the projects are scattered in Accra Sekondi-Takoradi, Kumasi, Ho, Sogakope and the other regions.
In the Northern regions, he said “we are building what we call forward operating bases to protect Ghana in terms of terrorist activities. Government is investigating in the Armed Forces and other security services even with the financial situation we are facing as a country. We are still investing because security should be number one.”
It was his argument that it is the duty of the government to make sure that all citizens are safe and that is why the government continues to invest in the security agencies.
The minister added that the government is building a whole harbour in Sekondi-Takoradi and acquiring new ships for the navy, as well as fighter jets for the Navy.
“We are going to buy two OPVS, the Air Force have difficulty putting their fighter jets in shape. Today, we (Air Force) have gotten the fighter jets and they are flying. They have started training with the fighter jet, so God forbid if there is any conflict, we would have fighter jets to support us,” he stressed.
Mr Nitiwul added that the ministry is also acquiring six fighter jets, 70 armoured vehicles and reconstruction of the 37 Military Hospital for the Army.
He urged the public and the media to be circumspect when discussing members of the Armed Forces, adding “they are human beings and they can make mistakes, but it is in the interest of all of us to protect people in uniform.
“Let us support them so that they can support us tomorrow because if the security services breakdown, we would not have a nation.”
The Deputy Director Engineering Services of GAF, Lt Col Albert Tekyi said most of the housing units are almost 98% complete and would accommodate instructors and senior officers and their families.
