¢60 Billion land sold for ¢5 Billion

The sale of military/police lands continues unabated — SOLD!!!

—Eastern Regional NPP Treasurer buys VAG Airport land!

—Land sold for only ¢5 Billion instead of ¢60 Billion!!

The Veterans Association of Ghana (VAG) land at the Airport Commercial Centre from which a group of Second World War veterans were evicted a few years ago under the most inhumane of circumstances has been sold! Yes, sold, and for no public interest activity but to the Eastern Regional Treasurer of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), the party that believes in a property-owning democracy. His name is Dr. Samuel Yaw Annor.

And do you know Dr. Samuel Yaw Annor? Well, Ghana Palaver knows. Dr. Annor was a member of the “Alan Cash for President” Campaign Team during the NPP Presidential primaries rooting for President Kufuor's favourite candidate, Alan Kyeremanteng. Dr. Annor also wants to be the NPP Parliamentary candidate for the New Juaben North constituency in the Eastern Region and for that reason, is locked up in a battle to death with Hon. Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, the incumbent MP who has variously held the positions of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Water Resources, Works and Housing and Interior. The tussle is likely to end up in court, if it is not already there.

And do you know how much Dr. Annor bought the VAG land for? Ghana Palaver knows. He bought it for a paltry US$500,000 (approximately ¢5 Billion). At the time of the purchase, the asking price for one acre of the commercial plots at the adjoining Airport City at the Kotoka International Airport was US$600,000 (approximately ¢6 billion).

The VAG land sold to Dr. Annor is a total of 10 acres. At a conservative estimate therefore, the 10-acre VAG land, if it should be sold at all, should have cost US$600,000 x 10 = US$6,000,000 (US$6 Million) or ¢60,000,000,000 (¢60 Billion).

Ghana Palaver has unconfirmed information that already Dr. Annor has re-sold or is preparing to re-sell the VAG lands at a prospective price of US$1,000,000 (US$1 Million) or ¢10,000,000,000 (¢10 Billion) per acre, thus making a total of ¢100,000,000 (¢100 Billion). If this information turns out to be true, then if you deduct the purchase price of ¢5,000,000,000 (¢5 Billion), then it means that the NPP's Dr. Annor stands to make a cool profit of ¢95,000,000 (¢95 Billion) for doing practically no work.

According to documents available to the Ghana Palaver, the Deed of Assignment covering the transaction was prepared by Sozo Law Consult of No. 26 Sunyani Avenue, Kanda Estates, Accra, Telephone No. 021-258694/5, Fax No. 021-258694 and P. O. Box KD/PMB 2, Kanda, Accra and executed on 7th July 2006. The Deed was executed between the Veterans Association of Ghana and Annor and Associates. Lt. General Ocran (Chairman), a member of the National Liberation Council (NLC) that overthrew the Government of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's CPP in 1966 and Col. E. D. F. Prah (Executive Director) signed on behalf of the VAG and Dr. Samuel Yaw Annor of P. O. Box 52, Effiduase, Koforidua, signed for Annor and Associates.

Ghana Palaver has no information that the VAG as a body met and authorised the sale of their landed property. What Ghana Palaver has rather discovered is that the VAG land was all along public land vested in the President of the Republic of Ghana and assigned to the Ministry of Defence as part of military lands.

On the 20th August 2004, in order to effect the VAG-Annor deal, the President authorised the Chairman of the Lands Commission, Justice Isaac Richard Aboagye, to assign the land to the VAG as beneficial owners to enable the VAG to sell the property to Dr. Annor. This was obviously to disguise the fact that the President was selling public land, and military land at that, to a private individual. In that preliminary transaction, Mr. F. O. Mpare, Chief Director of the Ministry of Defence, was the one who signed to dispose of the military's interest in the land.

Legal experts consulted by the Ghana Palaver have challenged the constitutionality of the transaction because according to them, where public lands are no longer required in the public interest, the first option of re-purchase should go to the original owners of the land. They cited Article 20 (6) of the 1992 Constitution which states as follows:

“Where any property [compulsorily acquired by the Government] is not used in the public interest or for the purpose for which it was acquired, the owner of the property immediately before the compulsory acquisition shall be given the first option for acquiring the property”.

According to the legal experts, this has been the cry of the Ga people for a long time that their lands are being indiscriminately sold to “strangers” without their being made to benefit from Article 20 (6) of the Constitution. They also reminded the Ghana Palaver that the transaction falls into the category of transactions involving the sale of military and police lands, including the sale of the official residence of the Chief of Defence Staff (whose sale the Minister of Defence Mr. Kan-Dapaah is now lamely trying to deny) which the one-time Chief of Defence Staff, Brigadier-General Nunoo-Mensah has been complaining about The legal experts suggested that the Airport VAG land is one of the transactions that will have to be investigated by the Government that takes over from the Kufuor Administration after the December 2008 elections.