Metropolitan Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) have partly blamed some Traditional Authorities and other land owners for stalling planned development projects and accused them of refusing to release parcels of land cited for community projects to uplift the wellbeing of the residents.
They expressed worry that no importance was attached to even educational, health, water and sanitation projects that were meant for the wellbeing of members of communities by the litigants, who were supposed to be holding the lands in trust for the citizenry.
Due to the situation, the government, has no land and can only help advance development on the goodwill of land owners and traditional authorities who understood the scheme of the game to release land which has resulted in such projects relocated to other communities, whose leaders understand growth and development readily offering them.
Richard Collins Arku, North Tongu District Chief Executive (DCE), was reacting to comments at a public accountability forum organised by the North T ongu District Assembly to seek views of the communities, assist, support and help them chart the course of the Assembly’s plans, programmes, projects and work at Juapong.
According to him, “employment and job creation lagged behind population, resulting in unemployment, rising poverty and want in rural areas particularly, leading to the regular rural-urban drift by the youth for non-existent greener pastures,” he stressed and “I appeal to traditional authorities and landowners to readily make land available for development in their communities, which has resulted in some nongovernmental organisations having to fold up and leave the communities.
“I also urge the youth to help, assist and support their leaders understand the issues since litigation and refusal by land owners and traditional authorities to release land for investment is partly the bane of the development drawback we are in, we should be reminded of the killing of a Zimbabwean farmer on the land he acquired for his family some years ago, denying the opportunity of employment for the youth there, aside revenue for the development –GNA
