Government Officials involved in sale of Kwabenya land

Accra , Feb. 2, GNA - The Nii Odai Ntow family of Kwabenya and Ashongman led by Manye Naa Korkwei Dugbartey II, Queenmother of Kwabenya has pointed fingers at some Government Officials in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party in the ongoing Kwabenya land dispute.

Manye Naa Dugbartey II, in a media interview in Accra mentioned names including those of Mr Kwabena Adjei, NDC Party Chairman and Mr John Kwao Sackey, Ga South Municipal Chief Executive as the supporting brains behind the sale of the said disputed parcel of Atomic land to a private developer for the construction of an ultra modern business district.

She stated that the actions committed by both the purported owners and these NDC Officials involved in the fraudulent sale of a State acquired land could generate huge controversy between the parties involved.

She therefore appealed to President Mills to intervene in the efforts of the current Minister of Lands and Natural Resources to arrive at a peaceful resolution on the Atomic lands issue.

She urged the President to order full investigations into the issue to ascertain the whole truth as to which persons were involved in the sale of the parcel of land and the rightful owners of the Atomic lands.

Manye Naa Dugbartey II also warned members of the Onomokordai family to desist from creating any further confusion in the Kwabenya lands, stressing that members of Nii Odai Ntow family would not take kindly to anymore of their lies to claim their legitimate inheritance.

She indicated that the Onomokordai family never owned lands in Kwabenya nor were they recorgnised by both Government and the Gbese Mantse as owners of the Atomic lands. Rather the Nii Odai Ntow family who were the legitimate owners had been involved in negotiations with different Ministers of Lands and Forestry even before Government announced the release of selected lands compulsorily acquired in October 2008.

She said the Nii Odai Ntow family had been quiet on the release of processes because they believed Government would finalize the documentation process legally to handover the land to them and therefore questioned the basis for a high court ruling in favour of the Onomokordai family when Parliament had not even revoked the Executive Instrument with which the land was acquired.

She admitted that the Atomic lands were compulsorily acquired by Government for the Atomic project in 1973 under an Executive Instrument 75/1973 and paid an amount of 141,000.00 cedis as compensation for 503.60 acres in 1975 out of a total of 2002.58 acres were returned to the Odai Ntow Family and Ashongman Mantse as the legitimate owners of the land.

Manye Naa Dugbartey II argued that if the then Government deemed it fit, considering all the documentations presented and the legal battle that ensued, to pay the compensation to our family as the rightful owners of the land, how then could another family lay claim today for that same parcel of land lying within the Atomic concession.

She cited a ruling by the Office of the Gbese Mantse which gave a declaration on Kwabenya lands in 1989 when five different families, namely Odai Ntow, Ga, Gbese and Korle, Nii Owoo, Nathaniel Quarcoo and R.A. Quarcoo were contesting over the lands.

She indicated that during the said ruling the Gbese Mantse cited the payment of the first compensation on the Atomic concession to the Odai Ntow family as one of the legal considerations and therefore declaring Odai Ntow as the rightful owners of Kwabenya lands which also include the Atomic concessions.

She called on Government to act quickly on the matter, especially as it could degenerate into political conflicts to disrupt the 2012 election and also warned prospective developers to stay off the land since they had not released any portion of the land for any project.

Mr John Kwao Sackey, Ga South Municipal Chief Executive, however denied allegations on being involved in the sale of the said parcel of land at Atomic to a private developer.

He stated that the Ga Municipal Assembly only issued permits based on the documentation presented and that if the other family which was the Nii Odai Ntow family claimed to be the rightful owners of the land they could still legally contest for their rightful inheritance without any problem from the Assembly.

He however explained that issuing of permits to clients did not guarantee their ownership to the land and that the process could be reversed at any point in time.

Mr Sackey stressed that neither he nor his outfit had any hand in the sale of the Atomic land.