Revert Ashaiman Community 21 Lands to the Chiefs and Assembly

for Developmental Projects!*

*……Ashaiman Chiefs order Tema Development Corporation (TDC).*

*BY: Dennis Narterh Adzigodi, Ashaiman.*

The chiefs and people of Ashaiman have called on the Tema Development Corporation (TDC) to revert the Ashaiman community 21 lands to the Chiefs and Ashaiman Municipal Assembly immediately for developmental projects. They claim anything short of that can result in prolong misunderstanding between the TDC and the people of Ashaiman since they will not allow any structure to be erected on the said land by TDC.

In a different statement, they have also called on the Government to speed up the process of amending the legislative Instrument (LI) that makes the said land a free zone area. They warned if the Government failed to intervene in the case the people of Ashaiman will not vote in the upcoming December 7 General Elections.

Speaking in an exclusive hot radio interview with Dr. Prekese and Eugene Oduro Mintah of Sena Radio in Ashaiman to declare their stand on the case, they warned that if the case is not well settled it can eventually lead to serious consequences and unrest. In a joint statement by all the tribal chiefs of Ashaiman Traditional Council led by Nii Anang Adjor (Chief of Ashaiman), Nii Kormey (Acting Jasetse of Ashaiman), Alhaji Masawudu Imoro (Beriberi chief of Ashaiman), Mr Emmanuel Nartey (Stool Elder of Ashaiman), Mr. C.O Martei (Stool Elder ), Naana Dugbakie Okor Dede I (Ada Queenmother of Ashaiman), Mr Ali Sikatse Ayornu (Proposed chairman forthe community 21 Lands), Mr Asante Augustine Kwabena (Secretary of community 21 lands) and other prominent members have called on the Tema Development Corporation (TDC) as a matter of urgency to release the said land to its rightful owners for developmental projects to avoid any unforeseen unrests.

According to them, Ashaiman is now very choked and over populated thereby putting pressure on the few existing facilities. “For now all the government offices are rented places. The Fire Service station, the Police station, the post office, the court and most government offices at Ashaiman are all rented offices. We need that piece of land for Government Hospital, Senior High School to compliment Ashaiman Senior High School, Lorry Station, Court Building, Police station, Fire Service and other developmental projects for the people of Ashaiman,” they have stated.

They have also condemned the recent demolishing exercise carried out by the TDC on a newly established market on same community 21 lands for traders who sell their goods on a portion of land opposite the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly which belongs to the Ashaiman Police Service. The demolishing they claimed has affected most traders some even going bankrupt since most of them have put all their monies into the putting up of new structures at the new site. The estimated damage cost by the TDC demolishing exercise according to the chiefs’ runs into millions of Ghana cedis and as a matter of urgency has called on the Government to immediately intervene in the matter.

They argued that Ashaiman then under the Tema Municipal Assembly have not seen any facelift and developmental activities, thus Ashaiman being tagged with a bad name and said they are now ready to do all they can to stop and prevent the TDC from going ahead to use the said land for residential houses for the Kpone Free Zone companies.

The chiefs also explain that majority of people who work in the industrial city of Tema reside in Ashaiman making the Municipality very choked and densely over populated. Government Schools, markets, lorry parks and other social amenities they said are very few and these are making livelihood very difficult for the people of Ashaiman.

The Ashaiman Municipal Assembly, they say, also need land to provide a lot of social amenities to the people of Ashaiman which they said the assembly has written to the chiefs but for now there are no lands available for such projects to be undertaken. The community 21 land was the only available land earmarked by the chiefs for these developmental projects as at now.

They further accused the TDC of not planning the Ashaiman Municipality very well leading to heavy vehicular traffic and perennial flooding because of few road networks and gutters in the municipality.

According to farmers on the community 21 lands, the TDC has sold a plot of land on the same land to HFC Bank some time ago which they the farmers have taken the TDC to court. The farmers also claimed the TDC as at that time was not able to produce any documents about the said land. “TDC always manipulate the court rulings, even on different occasions we have judges sitting on the cases being changed every time we go to court. Even at the Appeals Court. They have no documents backing their claim,” they stressed.

They also debunked the allegation that individuals (the chiefs) are fighting to acquire the said land for private developments which they said was misleading and are therefore calling on the Government to annul the Legislative Instrument (LI) that holds that piece of land as a free zone land and revert it to the Chiefs and the Municipal Assembly for useful projects.

In a joint statement by all the tribal Chiefs of Ashaiman they promised that if the said land is released to the people of Ashaiman , it will be used for putting up of the following amenities;

Government Hospital

Markets

Lorry Station

Football Stadium

Fire service office

Police Station

Post Office

SHS & JHS schools

Court

Toilets Etc.

On the proposed demonstration which was eventually called off last month, they revealed Government ministers (Honourable E.T Mensah and Collins Dauda) have met with the chiefs and they promised to mediate in the matter but it’s becoming long overdue and the chiefs and the people of Ashaiman can longer hold their peace.

They warned that if the government of the day was not able to return the lands to the Chiefs and people of Ashaiman for developmental projects then they see the government as not having the development of Ashaiman at heart and will vote massively against the ruling National Democratic Congress Party (NDC) come December 7.

They further warned that they will also prevent the Electoral Commission from bringing any ballot boxes for voting in the December general elections if their demands are not granted.