Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has reacted to denials by the Lands Minister, Samuel Abu Jinapor, that under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo-Bawumia government, public lands vested under their care on the people’s behalf are “safe, intact, and secure.”
According to Ablakwa, he has intercepted documents from the Lands Commission confirming that President Akufo-Addo has been busy selling public lands.
The intercepted documents in his possession, according to him, are official search certificates on North La lands from the Lands Commission dated 14th August 2023, addressed to the La Stool and signed by Gordon Ashirifie, Assistant Land Administration Officer.
This, he said, followed the La Stool’s application on August 7, 2023, seeking to know the status of state lands acquired by the government from the La Stool on March 11, 1943.
Ablakwa, in a Facebook post, noted that the search results did not align with assurances that public lands are “safe, intact and secure”, they rather show the following sales:
1. On 3rd September 2019 — President Akufo-Addo sold portions to Mask Business Consult.
2. On 29th June 2020 — President Akufo-Addo sold portions to Fulmen Limited.
3. On 1st October 2020 — President Akufo-Addo sold portions to Amantra Limited.
(Amantra subsequently resold portions to B5 Plus Limited and Devnik Ghana Limited on 5th November 2020; and then sold remaining portions to Unique Development Company Limited on 27th November 2020).
He described it as intriguing to discover that “not even the profound enormity of COVID-19 in 2020 could compel President Akufo-Addo to suspend his insatiable appetite for selling public lands.”
Ablakwa is wondering how much these lands were sold for, considering that some buyers appear to be highly connected middlemen who immediately resold the lands to well-established companies with fat turnovers such as B5 Plus and Unique Development.
Additionally, he is also wondering why these sales are done in utmost secrecy and thick darkness without any form of transparency and approval from the people who are the real owners of these state lands.
“This latest State Capture exposé, together with all the others, should explain why the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government has refused to publish the full list of state lands sold and those remaining, if any, as demanded by the NDC Caucus in Parliament more than two years ago,” he added.
Ablakwa said he is, however, consoled by former President Mahama’s pledge to set up a Commission of Inquiry to investigate and repossess looted state lands if he is reelected as President in the December 7 polls.
