The paramount chief of Yilo Krobo Traditional Area in the Yilo Krobo Municipal Assembly of the Eastern Region, Nene Nuer Anorbaah Sasraku II, has warned the Eastern Regional office of the Lands Commission and private developers to stay away from Krobo lands around the Krobo Mountain.
According to the Konor of Yilo Krobo, the Lands Commission are allegedly leasing out the lands in connivance with Yilo Krobo and Lower Manya Krobo Municipal Assemblies and other individuals, including some chiefs, to private developers.
Nene Nuer Anorbaah Sasraku II, at a recent meeting held in his palace atSomanya with stakeholders to discuss the matter told the Lands Commission officials that the lands surrounding the Krobo Mountain are not state lands and that they should stay away from its sale.
”The Land surrounding the Krobo mountain is not a state land. That must be made clear. It is never a state land. Our ancestors in 1893 refused to sign the agreement for the takeover of the land by the colonial government,” he said.
Supporting his argument, the Konor hinted that in 1892, the Krobos were forcefully evicted from their Krobo Mountain home by the British Colonial government led by the then governor, Sir Brandford Griffith.
He stated that a year later, on March 17, 1893 the colonial government forcefully took over the Mountain as a state land, under a ”Certificate of Title (Site for Krobo Hills)” but the Chiefs refused to sign the document for the divestiture of the Mountain.
The Konor of Yilo Krobo declared that: “the purported document being used by the Lands Commission to suggest that our chiefs in those days have signed any document to make it a state land is a forged document”.
Konor further argued that even per the existing Land Act, “if you take someone’s land for a number of years and you don’t use it for the intended purposes, you must return it to the original owner. You have no right whatsoever to lease it out”.
To this, Nene Nuer Anorbaah Sasraku II cautioned the Lands Commission to immediately stop the sale of lands around the Krobo Mountains.
Mr. Essuman Alex, a representative of the Regional Lands Commission at the said meeting admitted the sale of the lands to the private developers.
According to the representative at the meeting, ”In our records, the land surrounding the Krobo mountain is a state land and can, therefore, be leased [Sold] to any Ghanaian who comes forward to buy it, hence our decision to lease the lands”.
He continued that those who acquired the land for residential purposes, they (the Lands Commission) leased it out for them for a maximum of 99 years, while those for Commercial purposes leased the lands for 50 years.
Pressure from Kloma Hengme Association
Meanwhile, the leadership of Kloma Hengme Association, a pressure group in the area has concurred with the Konor of Yilo Krobo on the call for the Lands Commission to immediately halt any further sale and allocation of the remaining lands to private developers.
According to Mr. Isaac Tamatey Otu, the chairman for Kloma Hengme, ”we are speaking as an angry youth. We want solutions. We want the land back immediately. You must stop selling out the land to people. Those that you have already given out the land to them, please go and take it back from them”.
He continued that the lands around the Krobo enclave are for Krobos, it is our birth right and we are taking it back immediately.
MCE of Yilo Krobo reaction
When contacted on the matter the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Yilo Krobo Assembly, Eric Tetteh, denied being in bed with the Lands Commission to sell lands to any person or group of persons.
According to him, selling of lands to developers was not part of the core duties of the Assembly, however, the Assembly has oversight responsibility to determine and approve any development through the issuance of permits.
To this, he called on the leadership of the traditional council for a meeting to find a lasting solution to the issue being raised.
