The Nzema Petroleum Hub - Raw Deal

Is this another attempt by Awulae Annor Adjaye III and private individuals, hiding behind the state of Ghana to covet lands belonging to Nzema Families?

On March 28, 1996, Awulae Annor Adjaye III, Paramount Chief of the Western Nzema

Traditional area, made nine unsuspecting chiefs sign and thumbprint a Site Plan (Map) captioned PLAN OF WESTERN LIMESTONE PRODUCTS herein referred to as MULTIWALL PAPER SACKS LTD. One of the Chiefs, Nana Amihere Ndum V1 of Ndum Suazo, whose name also appears on the Plan neither signed nor thumb-printed it.

A leasehold agreement was executed between Nana Adonle Kpanyinli III, Chief of Nawuley and Multiwall Paper Sacks (WA) Ltd, represented by Dr J. A. Addison, its Managing Director on March 9, 1988. Members of the Ndweafo stool family including the Abusuakpanyinli did not know anything about this secret agreement and the alienation of 6.155 square miles, about 3,939.21 acres of land belonging to the Nawuley stool to Dr Addison until 2009.

As indicated above, this agreement was secretly, clandestinely, and surreptitiously executed and the leasehold agreement hidden from other members of the royal family for twenty years.

Like the Site Plan, the signatories to the leasehold agreement were predominantly illiterate and could not be said to have understood and appreciated the full meaning and import of the agreement.

Similarly, like the promoters and sponsors of the Petroleum Hub, Dr Addison, the promoter at the time, did not have the required capital and therefore decided to transfer the leasehold to GHACEM Ltd.

While the illegal and fraudulent leasehold agreement remained unresolved, Awulae Annor Adjaye III on 6 January 2010 ordered GHACEM Ltd to go ahead with the extraction of the limestone deposits at Nawuley for their cement factory at Takoradi. This directive provoked the Ndweafo royal family of Nawuley, the owners of the land as published in the Daily Graphic on 4 and 25 February 2010.

The obvious implication of Awulae Annor Adjaye III's orders was that the Ndweafo royal family was poor and could therefore not engage in any legal battle with Multiwall Paper Sack (WA) Ltd. Presumably, the people of Western Nzema, aka Jomoro (the affected communities and their families) and the concerned Nzema citizens are also too poor to fight Awulae's rich Hub sponsors and the current Government.

A date was appointed for the inauguration and transfer of the property to GHACEM by His Excellency President Dr Atta Mills of very blessed memory.

When the information reached the Abusua Kpanyinli of the Nawule Ndweafo Royal family, a celebrated legal practitioner from the said Royal family, residing in Accra, hurriedly filed an injunction to stop the planned inauguration and served a Notice of Abrogation of the Leasehold Agreement.

His Excellency the President was accordingly advised not to get involved in the

spurious deal. He obliged. Thirteen years after the Nawuley saga, Awulae Annor Adjaye III as Chairman of the Ghana Petroleum Hub is now leading some businessmen, hiding behind the state of Ghana, to acquire 20,000 acres of land, including the same parcels of land he failed to grab in 2010.

This is a raw deal and a sell-out!!

The lands carved for the fraudulent hub project have large deposits of clinker, bauxite, lintel, oil, gas, gold et cetera. In the spurious Petroleum Hub Plan, these rich areas are to be reserved for future development.

Government of Ghana, we are told, urgently needs 20,000 acres of land but about 13000 acres of the urgently needed lands including farmlands will be reserved for future development. One can reasonably assume that the lands for future development will include the NAWULEY LIME DEPOSITS, which Awulae Annor Adjaye III failed to grab in 2010.

As the Paramount Chief of Western Nzema, Awulae may hold the land in trust for the people. It, however, does not mean that the people have forfeited their right to speak up for, and negotiate for themselves. Awulae's declared position that 'the land belongs to his stool' and that 'only the crops on the land belong to the families' is most unfortunate and deceptive.

A land trust, (if one exists), is a binding trust agreement between a property owner and a trustee that authorizes the trustee to hold the property with or without transferring the title and control of the property. Therefore, the STATE must be guided, and act in a manner that may not invite litigation in the dealings, otherwise the said project would suffer a grievous opposition if the affected communities and their families rise.

In view of the revelations that have come to light regarding the promoters, sighted in a December 2019 Joint Venture filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC) 1 , and another expose that questions the credibility of the promoters and funders of the Petroleum Hub 2 , the matter must, as a matter of extreme urgency, be brought to the attention of the appropriate authorities for investigation and action.

Parliament, the Office of the Attorney-General and the Special Prosecutor must be brought into the picture. The National House of Chiefs may be interested in this matter, which seriously affects the dignity and sanctity of the sacred institution of chieftaincy.

It must be re-emphasized that the people of Nzema are not opposed to an unblemished

Petroleum Hub established in consultation with the chiefs and allodial owners of the land

that recognizes and adequately compensates landowners and Nzema Maanle, as well as agrees to specific demands as reproduced below:

Our analysis of documents by LUSPA 3 and the Petroleum Hub Development Corporation indicate that the entire project can be done on not more than 7,000 acres of land. As such, the rest of the 13,000 acres should be removed from the land earmarked for the Hub as it gives the impression that this is merely an attempt at land grabbing by false pretenses.

Any attempt to declare this additional land as a Free Zone Area and out of

the reach of the legitimate landowners will be considered an abuse of their right to own property, a fundamental right under Ghana's constitution, and will be fiercely resisted.

There should be transparency regarding who the private investors are, what they bring to the table and clear delineation of responsibilities between the state and the private investors and how these are selected.

Residential areas should be part of the surrounding towns to integrate the citizens but not to create Reserves or Homelands which will be out of reach of the inhabitants. In other words, an apartheid system within Nzema West Traditional Area, aka Jomoro.

Amenities like educational facilities, healthcare, waste management, housing and other infrastructure should be integrated into the surrounding towns. Special schools cannot be created for workers of the Hub while the towns look and stay poor.

There should be fair and equitable compensation (eg Equity interest) for the land that ensures generational benefit for landowners, the stools and for Nzema Maanle.

There should be up to 35% minimum employment quota for the indigenes among

others, and a fair representation on the Senior Executive Team so that indigenous issues can be considered at the highest level where key decisions are made.

There should be adequate safeguards to ensure that the delicate ecological balance of the area (around the Sea, Domunli, Amanzule and Tano) is maintained.

There should be adequate safeguards for the vulnerable and excluded as captured in the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of the Petroleum Hub.

As Concerned citizens of Nzema, some of whom are directly affected by this project, we will not hesitate to take the Government of Ghana, Awulae Annor Adjaye III, the Petroleum Hub Development Corporation and any other related bodies to task if these anomalies are not corrected immediately to ensure a transparent, equitable and fair process for all concerned.