Repeal Land Development Act - GaDangbe Society

The GaAdangbe Society has appealed to Parliament to help repeal the Land Development (Protection of Purchasers) Act of 1960 (Act 2) and L. I. 118.

The Chairman of the Society, Mr. K. B. Asante, told members of the Committee on Land and Forestry in Accra that the law was mainly responsible for the land guard phenomenon, which had brought strife among people living in Accra and its suburbs.

The society met with the Mr. Agyari Koi-Larbi, Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Andrews Adjei-Yeboah, NPP, Tano South and Mr. Lionel Bilijo, Ranking Member, as part of their lobbying trail to get the law repealed.

Mr. Asante said:" These laws are repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience."

The Act 2 facilitated the grabbing of land by those without proper documents and according to Mr. Asante, “some manage to get bogus titles and start their buildings. Building day and night under protection of armed guards, they get to the 'lintel level' and then come under the protection of the iniquitous act.”

Mr. Asante said the Act protected the purchaser since it provided that a law court could confer the title on the "purchaser" if it finds that it would "create hardship or injustice for the purchaser to lose land and, therefore, the building erected on it.

The L. I. 118' which was used to limit the application of the law to Accra area, had led to social conflict, disorder and disunity among the people of Accra.

”These laws should be abrogated immediately not only because they are iniquitous but also because they are unconstitutional. Applying the law to the Accra area only makes it discriminatory under the Directive Principles of State Policy of the Constitution.”

Mr. Asante said there is no place for a law, which targets a particular people. Ethnic diversity should enrich national capacity and culture and not divide the people. Laws that have outlived their usefulness should be expunged."

He told the committee that the perception that strangers had taken over Accra was unfounded but hastened to add that non-GaDangbes living in Accra should feel at home.

Mr. Koi-Larbi said the committee was working with the executive to correct the mistakes made on land acquisition matters in the past.

He commended the society for playing their civic role by channelling their grievance through legitimate means and said " we shall count on you when we are considering these matters".