Landowners and residents at Central City at Dawhenya in the Ningo-Prampram District are appealing to the police and military hierarchies to investigate persons dressed in their uniforms and terrorising the residents. The so-called joint team of police and military personnel, the landowners alleged, had been hired by a private developer to constantly assault them physically and sometimes provide security to earth-moving machine operators to raze buildings under construction.
At a brief news conference at Ablekuma, near Afienya in the Ningo-Prampram District, to explain their distress, Kingsley Dunyo, Spokesperson for the Central City Landowners Association, said they acquired their land from the Arden Darpoh Family of Dawhenya in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
However, in December 2018, he said the government, through the Attorney General, issued an Executive Instrument (EI) to compulsorily acquire approximately 13,700 acres of the land at Dawhenya and Central City where they live.
Given the huge investments the landowners had made to put up their properties Mr. Dunyo said, their lawyers petitioned the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to regularise about 3,000 acres of the total land they had already acquired from the Arden Darpoh Family and developed, instead of compensation from the government.
“Graciously, our petition has been accepted by the Ministry and has instructed the Lands Commission to follow its laid down process to finally regularise the properties of the affected property owners of the Association,” he noted.
While looking forward to receiving a reply from the Lands Commission on the completion of its processes to regularise their properties, Mr. Dunyo said a private developer emerged with a purported land title certificate to claim ownership of the same 3,000 land size they had petitioned the sector Ministry to regularise their stay on.
Startled to hear the claim of ownership of the same land they occupied, which the government had compulsorily acquired with an EI to protect it, Mr. Dunyo said the landowners resisted the private developer.
“Realising our fierce resistance to this claim and attempt to forcefully eject us from our lands, the private developer now uses unidentifiable persons dressed in military uniforms to bully us, extort various sums of money from our vulnerable members, and sometimes pull down structures in the night,” Mr. Dunyo explained.
Kingsley Dunyo said until December 2018, the landowners were oblivious that the land they had acquired from the Darpoh Family of Dawhenya was part of the 13,700 acres of land vested to the government since 1977.
“We are not fighting the government, because we have already committed ourselves and lifetime labour to build our properties. We are only appealing to the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and Lands Commission to expedite the processes on our regularisation petition before them.
“Again, we are calling on the Commander of the Ghana Armed Forces to investigate the unidentified military personnel, who have been hired by the private developer to bully and extort money from our weak members,” he appealed.
Besides, Kingsley Dunyo appealed to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to also restrain his uniform men from allegedly being used as land guards by the private developer.
“Our lifetime investments have been sunk to put up these properties, and all we are doing is to protect our labour. The harassment, brutalities and threats of lives are unbearable, so we plead with all those who matter to quickly come to our aid,” he noted.
