Land Commission demolishes buildings on "stolen land"

General News on Thursday, May 30, 2019

Source: Graphic.com.gh

2019-05-30

The Territorial Committee demolished on Tuesday a number of illegal structures located on its ring road behind the CLC headquarters on the Cantonments ring road in Accra.

The demolition took place around 10 am when Commission members stormed the area to arrest workers at the site.

Captain Kobea, who claimed to be a national security officer, seized the 2.7-acre plot and began building a multi-storey building and other structures.

Captain Kobea, who had challenged a series of warnings from the land commission not to enter state lands, would have hired guards to evict all squatters on the fenced plot and started to build the structures.

As a last resort to put an end to the illegality, the Commission stormed the site around 10 am with armed police to demolish the buildings.

Demolition

When the Daily Graphic arrived at the scene around 11:30 am, the executive secretary of the Territorial Commission, Alhaji Sulemana Mahama, and members of the armed police monitored the demolition exercise.

At about 12, the armed police were in a state of alert, while a bulldozer was demolishing the multi-storey building and other structures in the field. .

Workers who had been hired by the so-called "encrusted" to set up the structures monitored the demolition of the buildings.

None of them were willing to talk to the Daily Graphic, but the newspaper felt they were waiting to know their fate of their "employer" before leaving the area.

Explanation

Alhaji Mahama told the Daily Graphic that the land was awarded to the Land Commission in the early 1960s, but that it remained inactive due to lack of funds to develop it.

"A certain Captain Kobea who claims to belong to the National Security has begun to claim ownership of the land. So we have taken steps to stop him about three times, but he remains adamant, he said.

"Captain Kobea has indicated that he is a national security officer, but our national security checks indicate there is none. He simply uses the name of official to commit illegality, "he said.

Alhaji Sulemana said that there was no document showing anywhere that the land belonged to a private entity outside the Land Commission.

He pointed out that the commission would do everything in its power, including recourse to the courts, to prevent intruders from seizing land.

Alhaji Sulemana warned contractors and other workers in the construction industry to exercise due diligence before reaching an agreement with a construction project.