The Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, responsible for Lands and Forestry, Mr Benito Owusu, has charged the Adenta Divisional Police Command to protect government lands at Amrahia, a suburb of Accra, from further encroachment.
He gave the directive during a working visit to the Amrahia Dairy Farm lands on Wednesday to inspect the level of progress in the demarcation of lands expected to be handed over to the rightful owners.
The government, through the Lands Ministry, has been fighting encroachers on the Adenta Amrahia Dairy Farm lands for several years and has recently made progress in working with various families involved to ensure that the lands are handed over peacefully to the rightful owners.
He said “the government wants to make sure that the policy and promise made to hand over a portion of the acquired lands to the owners, is followed. As we speak, work is almost finished in keeping this promise but others are still attempting to thwart the government’s plans and we cannot sit and allow that to happen.”
He directed the police to set up police post as soon as possible to protect the surveyors who would be demarcating the portions of land as well as to ensure that their work was not disrupted by the actions of land guards and other intruders, adding that, their protection would go a long way to ensuring that there are enough lands to build affordable housing for government agencies.
Mr Owusu Bio also directed the surveyors to begin work as soon as possible and to install boundary pillars to properly the lands, while also requesting that representatives from the various families be present to ensure a peaceful and transparent working environment.
The Adenta Divisional Police Commander, Abraham Acquaye, stated that before the police begin work, he would reassemble the Chiefs to inform them of this final leg to ensure the peaceful construction of the boundaries.
He also pledged that as soon as the demarcation was completed, he would ensure that the handover event was peaceful and safe.
On his part, Mr Maxwell Adu-Nsarfoa, the Ministry’s Technical Director of Lands, walked the commander through the map, showing him the demarcations to confirm the boundaries that would serve as a guideline for their work.
He stated that a surveyor would provide the route for the boundaries, as well as bulldozers to open up the boundaries, after which the pillars would be mounted to allow for smooth operations, emphasizing that the police’s responsibility would be to protect the people and machines on site.
He stressed that because the government has not officially handed over any parts of the lands to any party or family, anyone attempting to claim ownership of the lands should be viewed and treated as a land guard or an intruder until the demarcations are completed.
Irene Wirekoaa Osei, ISD
