The Dowuona-Owoo branch of the Nii Owoo Royal family has cautioned the government and the general public to be guided in its dealings with the family.
According to the family, all dealings with the Nii Owoo Royal Family without the consent and concurrence of the Dowuona-Owoos were invalid.
The spokesperson for the Dowuona-Owoos l, PercyDowuona-Owoo, said this yesterday at a press conference held in Accra.
According to Mr Dowuona-Owoo, the Nii Owoo Royal family was made up of three branches namely the Dowuona-Owoos, Owoos and the Quarteys of Legon.
He said the Owoos have breached the various stipulations of the 1992 family accord by their unilateral statement, adding that “this behaviour of the Owoos has been the cause of internal wranglings between the branches of the family.
“Such unilateral action on the part of the Owoo branch to issue public statements with the view to dissipate family assets and marginalise the Dowuona-Owoos and Quarteyshas been the bane to the family,” he added.
Mr Dowuona-Owoo explained that Nii Owoo did not have a biological child and therefore bequeathed his properties to his sister’s daughter whose son was Emmanuel Nortei Dowuona-Owoo.
He indicated that Emmanuel Nortei Dowuon-Owoo appointed George Owoo who had the stool name a Nii Owoo II, adding that the former empowered the latter to receive compensations for the Achimota lands.
He added that the former again made a will and making George Owoo the executor of it which meant that the descendants of Nii Owoo should inherit his property.
“We are putting it out that the bonafide heads and those expected to inherit NiiOwoo’sproperties are the Dowuona-Owoos,” Mr Dowuona- Owoo said.
Wing Commander Robert Dowuona-Owoo (Rtd), a grandson of Emmanuel NorteiDowuona-Owoo said his brothers (Owoos) have kept them in the dark, hence the reason for the conference tolet the public know they exist.
On May 18, 2022, the Ghanaian Times reported that the government through the Forests (Cessation of Forest Reserve) Instrument 2022 (E.I. 144) had made the peripheral portions of the Forest Reserve, which had already been granted to the Owoo Family in September 2013 ceased to be a forest reserve, to ensure development that was consistent with the area of the Forest Reserve.
Detailing the government’s reasons to declassify the peripheral parts of the Achimota Forest Reserve as a reserve through the Executive Instruments, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel AbdulaiJinapor said following several encroachments on the Forest Reserve, the pre-acquisition owners, the Owoo family had since 2007 petitioned successive governments for the release of the portion of the Forest Reserve adjoining the Tema Motorway.
“After consultations between the Office of the President and the relevant bodies, it was recommended that portion of the Forest Reserve be released to the Owoo family,” he said.
BY JEMIMA ESINAM KUATSINU
