Bole to lose DVLA Office as controversy over land deepens

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) office earmarked for Bole in the Northern Region, has been stalled as a result of a controversy over a piece of land that was to be used for the construction of its offices.

The DVLA office which would have been the second in region besides the Tamale Regional office, was to start in October 2015 and commissioned for operations in October 2016 is at a standstill.

District Chief Executive (DCE) for Bole Mr. James Jaaga on Bole-based Nkilgi Fm, said he spoke to the coordinator of the Bole Lands Customary Secretariat and son of the late Bolewura Gbeadese Mr. Seidu Jeremiah and other stakeholders and only for unresolved issues regarding the land to be brought up.

The DCE explained that there is litigation over the land that was earmarked for the project and so the District Assembly is in the process of securing a new site for the project.

Mr. Jeremiah Seidu however explained that Bole was earmarked for a DVLA office as a result of his personal effort. According to him, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the DVLA is his friend and so he contacted him and brought him to Bole and after feasibility studies.

He said he together with the DVLA Boss met the DCE for Bole, the Town and Country Planning department at Bole and other stakeholders and it was decided that the land under ligation which belongs to the late Bolewura Gbeadese and was used as a yard by a building contractor be allotted for the project.

The land in question was issued to a number of people by the late Bolewura Gbeadese for building purposes but a contractor called Ghanem wanted the land to mount his site when he was building the Bole-Bamboi road so the late Bolewura invited all tenants and relocated them.

He explained that all those who acquired the said land were given extra plots of land including six plots of land allocated to the family of Mr. Alex Abudulai who are all laying claim to the same land.

It was agreed later agreed that Ghanem compensates the owners of the plot of land and the traditional authorities but this did not happen so the land reverted back to the Bole traditional authorities when his father was Bolewura.

To this end, he said the demised Bolewura Gbeadese wanted the land to be used for a school project before a decision was arrived to convert it to a DVLA post, with computers and many other things for the Bole DVLA office purchased, labeled and kept at the Accra DVLA office

Jeremiah threatened moving to Accra to request for the Bole DVLA office to be moved to his mother’s hometown of Busunu. He said the litigated land does not belong to Mr. Alex Abudulai and his family.

Mr. Alex Abudulai has however explained that the said land belongs to his family indicating that they acquired it since 1988 and have the relevant documents to prove. He accused Jeremiah Seidu of taking money from DVLA and insisting that their land be used for the offices of the DVLA.

He said they are not prepared to relinquish the land advising that the DVLA offices could be sent to the outskirts of Bole to help expand the Bole Township.

Mr Alex hinted they have heaped sand on the land and will soon begin a project (fuel station) there.

Meanwhile the Bole Drivers Union has given all the stakeholders one week to start the project or its members will advise themselves. According to them the advantages of having a DVLA office in Bole is enormous because there will be direct and indirect employment.

Bole will become busy as people will move from even Wa and Tamale to come to Bole especially when they are being delayed there to work on new Drivers Licenses, to renew Drivers Licenses to upgrade their licenses, for replacement of licenses and other services they use to go to Tamale, Wa and Techiman to do”, they stated.

They explained that they just want the project to come on and do not care about litigation on any land.