Gbevlo Rescues State Land

….Sold By Pastor Through Fraud

The Herald investigations into a demolition operation, carried out by ASP Freeman Kumashie of Accra Regional Police, a month ago, is pointing to a fraud, and the National Security Secretariat has moved in and driven away the fraudsters from the land belonging to the state.

At the centre of the deal is one Pastor Daniel Kwabena Kingdom of Kingsway International Church, Adenta, Accra. Pastor Kingdom, who had never been a part of the Adenta Aprotech Community, is said to have fraudulently presented himself as such, among some 34 residents of the community, seeking regularization of occupancy of the Aprotech Housing facility.

The parcel of land for the Aprotech Housing facility was acquired by the Rawlings administration in the 1980s for an affordable housing scheme. However, the project suffered a hitch when the architect on the project one Kofi Sam had a problem with Mr. Jerry John Rawlings.

With many years gone by, some officials at the State Housing Corporation (SHC) decided to sell the plots thinking government has forgotten about the project.

The Herald investigation revealed that Pastor Kingdom fraudulently acquired a court order to eject some people occupying his property—a semi-detached house and three hairdressing kiosks.

But Pastor Kingdom with the connivance of the court bailiff and ASP Kumashie demolished ten other houses, fraudulently going beyond the court order.

“When I tried to draw their attention to the fact that they were going beyond the court’s stipulation, ASP Kumashie threatened to arrest me if I don’t leave the place, claiming I was disturbing him”, said Mr. kwesi Agyei Gyimah, Site Manager of the Aprotech Housing Project.

The Herald gathered that though the order was countered by an interlocutory injunction at a higher court, Pastor Kingdom hired the services of ASP Kumashie, who led armed police personnel, numbering about 50, and with bulldozers razed down eleven houses at Aprotech, in the early hours of June 15, 2012.

Apparently, Pastor Kingdom had sold the land on which these eleven houses stood to one Alhaji Yahaya Mohammed, for GH¢ 250, 000.

Alhaji Mohammed has in an interview with The Herald confirmed the transaction between him and Pastor Kingdom, but he refused to disclose the amount involved.

The inhuman demolition of the houses and the displacement of their occupants drew public condemnation, leading to the intervention of officials from the National Security and the State Housing Corporation (SHC).

Sign boards have been erected by the two agencies, indicating that the land is a government property and is under dispute and so nobody is allowed to encroach upon it.

When The Herald pointed it out to Alhaji Mohammed that he had been duped, he said before he bought the property he had made his checks at the Land Commission and nobody owned the land on which the houses were situated.

Alhaji Mohammed said though some people occupied the houses on the land, they had not made any efforts to regularize their occupancy.

He said the issue was being politicized, and that he would make sure his interest is guaranteed or his money returned.

In a related development, one John Aidoo, Legal Advisor for SHC, who is said to have facilitated the release of the land to Pastor Kingdom, has been asked to proceed on leave, pending investigations into the matter.

Meanwhile, The Herald’s series on the brutish demolishing exercise has yielded some relief for the victims as Madam Kakra Vanlare, the boss of Adenta Municipal Assembly (AdMA) has presented relief items including mattresses, bags of rice, cooking oil and blankets to the victims of the demolition.

The items were from the National Disaster-Management Organization (NADMO).

The Herald has it that the demolition exercise, brutishly carried out by ASP Kumashie, cost GH¢ 15,000 with a huge chunk of the money going to the police, who rendered about 54 people homeless.

Several attempts by The Herald to reach Pastor Kingdom at his Adenta home, his Church and on his mobile phone—0244751064 proved futile.