We'll deal ruthlessly with land-guards - IGP

The Ghana Police Service has begun an exercise to flush out land-guards from sites and thereby remove the threat they pose to developers.

Consequently, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Nana Owusu Nsiah has ordered Police officers to arrest and prosecute all land-guards and their employers.

Speaking during a courtesy call on the chiefs and Queen mothers of the Ga Traditional Area in Accra on Tuesday, the IGP expressed grave concern over the spate of land disputes and indicated that the Police would deal ruthlessly with land-guards and the people who employed them.

He criticised land custodians for the multiple sale of lands, which accounted for the several disputes and conflicts and asked them to seek Police assistance to restrain trespassers.

The IGP advised land owners seek redress from the courts rather than employing the services of land-guards.

Nana Owusu Nsiah, himself a traditional ruler reminded the chiefs that the Chieftaincy institution was a sacred one and expressed displeasure at the use of the youth by some chiefs to create troubles for their opponents, warning that the same youth would turn against the chiefs and elders who employed them to create trouble for other chiefs.

"A royal is a royal, and the seat cannot be taken by people who do not belong to the royal family. Let's realise that destoolment is the responsibility of people who qualified.

"Let us talk to our subjects to refrain from unnecessary demonstrations and attacks on the Police Service", Nana Nsiah said.

He appealed to the traditional rulers to join hands with the Police Service to effectively carry out its social contract with the improved level of logistics it had received from government.

Nana Owusu Nsiah asked the chiefs to join in the war against indiscipline saying development could only take place in a peaceful atmosphere to raise the standard of living of the people.

He said chiefs and community leaders should report and expose suspicious characters in their communities to the Police, and gave the assurance that any information given would be treated confidential.

Nii Adotey Obuor II, Sempe Mantse and Acting President of the Ga Traditional Council, expressed concern over the long period of handling land and chieftaincy cases in the courts, saying a number of dockets on cases in which lives had been lost had since 1992 were still with the Attorney General's Department.

Nii Kojo Ababio, Ngleshie Alata Mantse called on the Lands Commission to abide by the Lands Act and only documents processed by recognised paramount stools as a way of reducing the trouble over land ownership. The IGP presented six bottles of schnapps and one million cedis to the Council.