Give us our money - Budumburam Chiefs tell gov’t

The Chiefs and people of Gomoa Budumburam in the Gomoa East District of the Central Region are fuming over government’s failure to give them the compensation due them after government acquired the Gomoa Budumburam land for use by Liberian refugees in the early 90’s.

According to the Gomoa Budumburam chief, Nana Kojo Essel II, the government of Ghana acquired the said Budumburam lands for use by Liberian refugees when the war broke out in Liberia, a situation which virtually forced them to give a bigger portion of the land to the refugees for habitation.

He explained further that the decision to give the bigger portion of their land to the refugees did not come by fluke since there were agitations from other chiefs on the matter.

Despite all that, they gave the land to the government. For this reason, the traditional authority of the area is finding it difficult to understand why the state has refused to give them their due.

“The government promised that he would give us compensation for our land after the refugees used our land for years, but we have waited and waited and nothing is coming”, Nana Kojo Essel lamented.

“Government upon government, they keep on promising us. We are tired,” he added.

According to the chief, government is not even ready to hand over the land to the traditional authority.

The land the government acquired for the refugees could have been used for other developmental projects by the chiefs and people of Gomoa Budumburam, but it was given for free, the obviously angry chief told The Independent.

“We need our money or we would take them on”, he warned.

In another development, the Odikro hinted that since the refugees left for Liberia, armed robbers and criminals have taken over the camp posing a threat to residents living there.

He explained that, at night, it becomes difficult for individuals to use the camp adding that innocent Ghanaians have been killed as a result of that.

According to him, there are still some refugees who have refused to leave their land and have turned the place into a hub for criminals.

“Wee, cocaine and armed robbery activities are now the order of the day at the camp”, the Odikro told The Independent.

All these are happening because the government has failed to hand over our land to us, he added.

He hinted that they have reported the issue to the Assin Omanhene, Obirifu Ahunako Ahor Ankobea II, and if nothing is done by the government, they would advise themselves and take government on.