A Ghanaian Industrialist, Mr. Daniel Akwetey Tetteh, has expressed concern about the growing trend wherein miscreants adopt illegal ways of selling lands earmarked for community development projects to private developers.
He said the trend has become widespread at Kpone-Katamanso in the Greater Accra Region, where some indigenes forge documents and secure fake signatures to sell lands earmarked for schools, cemeteries, hospitals and other community projects.
Mr. Tetteh, who is the Board Chairman of Appolonia City, made this known at a fundraising event for Appolonia School. The event was aimed at raising funds to renovate the school’s infrastructure.
Present at the event were some state officials including the Member of Parliament for Kpone-Katamanso, Mr. Joseph Tetteh, and some executives from the municipal authority.
Appolonia City Support
Appolonia City has over the past years invested in a number of projects to support development of the Appolonia community. Some notable investments include the construction of additional blocks for the Appolonia Junior High School; upgrading a CHIPS Compound for the municipality; and installation of water tanks for the schoolchildren.
As part of the fundraising event, management of Appolonia City pledged to give the school GH¢60,000 to aid them in repairing broken-down facilities and commence work on a new classroom block ahead of the school’s 75th anniversary next year.
Search before you buy.
According to Mr. Tetteh, one of the factors that contributes to the unauthorised sale of lands is the refusal of land buyers to follow due process. Instead of them to undertake due diligence before making any attempt to buy lands, he said, most of them decide to go ahead without proper checks and later hire the services of land guards to protect those ‘illegal lands’.
Mr. Tetteh said it beats his imagination to discover that some developers decide to pay huge money for lands without proper due diligence.
In the case at Appolonia Town, a suburb of Greater Accra, he said the culprits are mostly unsuspected individuals, including some Ga Adangbe indigenes.
Citing an example, Mr. Tetteh said just last year a retired teacher at Appolonia Town connived with people in attempting to sell lands earmarked for a school, cemetery and hospital to interested developers.
He said the community will not allow anybody who makes any attempt to develop community land, adding that “We will resist any such move”.
Mr. Tetteh said he does not understand why some people allow their own personal interest to override the entire community’s collective benefit.
“You are selling every piece of land, forgetting that these lands are supposed to be protected and wisely invested to benefit the people. God is not creating any more land, in case people have forgotten,” he said.
Mr. Tetteh said Ga people are only fortunate to be in Greater Accra where land value is high; but elsewhere people have 1000s of acres of land left untouched and yet the people manage to find ways to support their families without engaging in misdeeds.
Mr. Tetteh therefore called on the Kpone-Katamanso municipality, the Ga Adangbe leadership in government and MP of the constituency to join forces in combatting land crimes at Appolonia town. He also used the occasion to commend the new Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Dr. Akuffo Dampare, for his commitment to combatting crime and indiscipline in the country.
