Land Grab by The Ghana Armed Forces
War
drums are beating at La in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana, and it could lead
to some bloody clashes between the civilian population and the Ghana Armed
Forces. According to the La people, lands that were given out for military purposes
are currently being repackaged and sold to foreign companies and private
businessmen without due regard to the original owners of the land. Read more
here: http://www.modernghana.com/
The
Coalition of La Youth Associations and the Board of Trustees of the Dadekotopon
Development Trust have asked the Ghana Armed Forces and the Government of Ghana
to return all parcels of land that are no longer intended for the purposes for
which they were first acquired.
They
have also accused the Military of “fomenting acts of Terror and brutalities
against the local people.”
Please read below the views of the La people about the loot of their lands by the
Ghana Armed Forces;
 |
| Margaret Adjetey |
Margaret Adjetey
“The
Military of today no longer epitomizes peace, discipline and integrity. It has
become the facilitator for the loot of land for the benefit of private people,
mostly engaged in real estate housing. All of our lands have been encroached
upon by the Military under the pretext of seeking land for security buffer, but
the main objective of this grand project is to make land easily accessible to
private companies. This is criminal and we are prepared to fight this
injustice. We are no longer frightened by the guns they wield because we bought
it for them to protect our the people of this country and our properties. How
it has happened that the Military now connive to extort and appropriate our
properties can only be explained by God. We are sending a word of caution to
Colonel Gyekye Asante and his superiors that this is La in Greater Accra and no
force can cheat or defeat us.”
 |
| Korkoi Quaye |
Korkoi Quaye
“We
are serving notice to the Ghana Armed Forces to as a matter of urgency vacate
every piece of land it has not acquired legitimately. The Military has become
nothing more than thugs in the business of snatching land with the gun for
private gains. We are the owners of the 2, 456 acres of land being grabbed by
the Military and we are taking it back. The rate at which the Ghana Armed
Forces has recently been trespassing on our lands by means of force is
unacceptable and it will be resisted and that resistance has started from
today. By our meeting today, we are ordering the Military to hand over every
piece of land which no longer serves the purposes for which it was intended and
we demand that they stop the encroachment of our collective ownership as a
people with our heritage bound to this area and our land.”
 |
| Patience Anyekaa Annan |
Patience Anyekaa Annan
“Colonel
Gyekye Asante and his bosses must understand that this is Accra and not Asante.
If he intends to hide under the uniform to conduct business by false pretenses,
then we will remove those uniforms because God and the truth are on our side.
If the Military intends to coerce the good people of La and twists their hands
as they rob us of our lands then Colonel Asante must understand that a war has
started and we shall fight to its logical conclusion. We are demanding that the
President steps in and order the Military to hand over every stolen or
illegally acquired land peacefully as he shall be a recipient of the chaos that
is coming. We have suffered enough and we shan’t allow any man or woman to take
advantage of his Military uniform to steal the resources of this area or
oppress anybody in this country because we have lived through these times
before and we know what a corrupt soldier wielding a gun can do. We love our
country and that is why we want to stamp out greed and the corruption that has
eaten into the Ghana Armed Forces. We prefer to die than to have our farmers
and our children disposed of our lands. This is a warning and we will fight to
the end.”
 |
| Doris Kai Amoah |
Doris Kai Amoah
“My
father was a small scale farmer who farmed till his death some years ago. My
brothers also took to farming and so did their children because it was a source
of livelihood for them and the rest of the family. These are the lands the
soldiers have taken so forcefully from us to be handed over to foreigners. The Military
men have now become business men. On many occasions they beat our farmers when
they go to their farm to work in order to make a living. We are most surprised
that these things are happening under a government we have served so diligently.
If the benefit of casting a ballot or supporting John Mahama will lead to my
dispossession of my land by the Military then what is the point of all the hard
work we do for these political parties? Our sources of livelihood are being
taken away from us and we have no refuge from these people. No people or
township can survive without farmers because they feed the world every day by
their labours of work on the land so where will the food come from when the
land on which the farmers work has been taken?”
 |
| Rebecca Oboshie Torgbor |
Rebecca Oboshie Torgbor
“We
have so much land at La but we do not own them as the state and some foreigners
have virtually taken them all. Our children and grandchildren are walking the
streets without a place to lay their heads and that disturbs me a lot. The
decision by the soldiers to forcefully take land they have not paid for
complicating the matter, especially as we have already given them huge
concessions for the construction of hospitals and barracks over the years. Do
they want to make us a landless people? They have even destroyed our farmlands
on which we farm as a source of livelihood, so how can we live with any
dignity. The Military has also destroyed our sacred and revered sites that
dates back to many years and one of such sites is the place where the “Kpletso
Deity” can be found. They completely ransacked the whole area. But why must
this happen to a people who have sacrificed so much to the construction of this
nation? I hope the President will speak out on this matter because we are
suffering and we demand justice.”
 |
| Edith Atwei Tawiah |
Edith Atwei Tawiah
“We
have contributed to the development of this country and for that the people of
La demand that we be treated with some dignity and respect. We have chosen an
amicable settlement to the injustices we have suffered at the hands of the
Military because we believe that this government, especially will ensure that
what is right and just is done. But having waited for this long and as the
Military has decided to continue with the pillage and the direct grab of our
lands, we have decided to resort to mass action and what has happened here
today is the start of what is yet to come. We are not babies at all and our
forefathers lived here long before the white men came to Ghana and before we
had our independence. We have voluntarily given out so much land already for
state projects and we will protect what is left because our children need them.
The soldier men who have decided to do business with our land must beware,
because this will fail and it will fail because soldierman no be business man.
Their work is not to take land for whatever reason. If the State needs any
portion of land here, the authorities must approach us for negotiation, but if
they resort to force we shall resort to resistance because this is La.”
 |
| Elisabeth Akweley Kotey |
Elisabeth Akweley Kotey
“My
father is a farmer who had his farm
behind the International Trade Fair Centre for many years before my birth.
Having taught me how to cultivate many crops when he was alive, it was only
normal that I walked in his shoes and continued farming, which brought food
home and served as a source of making money for myself and for my family. One
fine morning I had gone to the farm to go about my business when a group of
soldiers started shouting at me from a distance ordering me to leave the land
immediately. With so much fear and anxiety I left everything behind and rushed
home. I know that a certain portion of land had been given to the soldiers,
some years ago, but what they want to take now does not belong them. If they
do, they will drive myself and the generations after me into misery and
poverty. I beg them to please leave my land for me because that is my only hope
of survival in this life and that is all I have got to bequeath to generations
after me. The soil on my farm is conducive for growing Okro and other vegetable
and that is where I have made a living these many years.”
 |
| Vida Akong a.k.a Nakai Djen Yoo |
Vida Akong a.k.a Nakai
Djen Yoo
“I
live in a family house that has become so congested because we no longer have
land on which to build houses anymore. The land has all been taken bit by bit
by Military officers and some shady characters whose claim of ownership to our
lands cannot be verified but we know that they do not own the lands. The East
Dadekotopon Development Corporation takes charge of our lands and they are once
who decide what must happen to our lands. The lands the Military wants to take
is unlawful because when the East Dadekotopon Development Corporation and the
Ghana Armed Forces went to court over the matter, the judge ruled that we be
paid the deserved compensation before the Military can take those lands but
they have done contrary and that Colonel Gyekye Asante who has no respect for
Nii Tsuru III will write an insulting letter when the attention of the army is
drawn to the devastation that their actions are causing to our lands they have
encroached upon. Only this morning some of our farmers have been beaten by the
soldiers on their farms and these brutalities take place every day. These
things must stop and the Military must vacate our lands because we are feeling
the pinch and we are going to react in our search for justice.”
 |
| Hannah Adjorkor Boi |
Hannah Adjorkor Boi
“I
live in a small family house with my children and grandchildren. We desire to
move out onto our family lands, but the Military men have taken so much of this
land that we have no other alternative. I beg the President to order the
soldiers out of our lands because our situation has become so miserable and
frustration has set in for most of us. We are being made to feel like strangers
and that is what hurts me so much because we were the ones who willingly gave
out lands for the development of Accra because we believed in nation building.
That gesture must not be taken to mean meekness at all because when we decide
to take drastic measures, no one will survive the heat.”
 |
| Salomey Pattison |
Salomey Pattison
“The
insults and the indignity we have suffered at the hands of the Ghana Armed
Forces is completely shocking. That, a common colonel from Asante can look in
the face of the La Mantse, Nii Kpobi Tettey Tsuru III and challenge his
authority when he complained about the serious environmental hazards that the
wining by some private persons were causing to residents on land illegally
acquired by the Military is completely dumb-founding. I know he will not
address the Asantehene in the terms he did of
Nii Kpobi Tettey Tsuru III in his letter, but he must be rest assured
that we will make sure that he never takes advantage of his Military uniform
and take lands that do not bother anywhere near the Ashanti Region. His disgust
and disrespect for Nii will be punished at the right time when every inch of
land he and his bosses are seeking to grab is taken away in broad daylight.
What belong to the people of La will always remain ours and no businessman or
soldier man business man can take it. We are pleading with the authorities to
initiate an amicable settlement of this matter because when the cock crows, La
will respond and we will respond very fiercely. Enough of the land grab.”
 |
| Vivian Akweley Ako |
Vivian Akweley Ako
“We
called the press to this meeting today because we have had enough of the
marginalization and the disregard for our children and those that come after
them. The time to ensure that sanity is made to prevail is now because we
cannot accept the state of affairs with regard to the manner in which the Armed
Forces has decided to handle this scandal. We had hoped that we could live side
by side with Military, but they have proven otherwise by the passage of time.
If the Military needed land, then why did they sell the huge plot of land
opposite the 37 Military Hospital to private developers who are building high
rise buildings without our consent. They are not getting any more land from
here and of they choose to apply brute force as they are doing today then
history might have to repeat itself because no one has ever managed to cheat
the people of La and those who did had their fingers burnt. That cock is
crowing and the La people are responding like never before. The struggle for
the preservation of our lands has started today.”
 |
| Mary Opong |
Mary Opong
“For
the very first time the people of La have started a series of actions to
protest against the injustices we have suffered at the hands of the Military
and we ask of the solidarity of all people home and abroad. We have become
homeless people because of our generosity to the State and certain characters
seek to take advantage of our hopelessness. We cannot bear the suffering
anymore and we demand that justice is made to prevail today. We cannot hand
over the few portions of land on we farm and live. Land is the basis of every
economic activity and we are shocked to learn that in this day and age a few
groups of people with briefcases and some in Military uniforms will shamelessly
seek to take what has been a collective ownership of the La people for these
many centuries. But the protest has started from today and we stand very firmly
behind the Dadekotopon Development Corporation demand of every portion of land
the Ghana Armed Forces have taken illegally.”
 |
| Gifty Yemofio |
Gifty Yemofio
“Our
participation in this year’s election and the choices we will make will
definitely be dependent on the outcome of the call of the Military to stop the
pillage of the resources of the La people. We are custodians of the La lands
and we insist that the military loot of acres of our land must be returned
immediately. The deception and the coercion have gone on for too long and it
must stop. Where in this country has a people so willingly given this level of
solidarity to any government? There is none! We have given out land to thegovernment
for so many projects which has benefitted everyone in this country, including
the people of La but we have sacrificed more. The government must step in to
maintain order before matters get out of hand. In fact, there will be no place
to mount the ballot boxes because we no cause to participate in the upcoming
general elections in November. We are embittered by the raw treatment we have
received at the hands of the government and the Military
Amen
ReplyDelete