The Greater Accra Regional Security Council (REGSEC)yesterday carried its threat through by demolishing illegal structures on the 200-acre Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) land at Frafraha in the Adentan Municipality of the Greater Accra Region.
The exercise, which started at 4:00 a.m., involved the demolition of completed structures, fence walls, and those under construction with about eight bulldozers led by the 48 Engineers Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces.
About 200 other security personnel drawn from the Ghana Police Service, the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Ghana Immigration Service, the Ghana National Fire Service, the Adentan Municipal Assembly and the Ghana Ambulance Service were on site to support the operation.
The exercise, led by the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr Henry Quarteyand the Adentan Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr. Alexander Daniel NiiNoiAdumuah, left the encroachers in shock as they scrambled to salvage their items.
The landguards who had previously been terrorising the staff of the Animal Research Institute vanished from site on seeing the fully-armed security personnel.
Addressing the media, Mr Quartey bemoaned the attitude of the encroachers,who had the “guts”to break the fence wall round the land and erect structures on it without permit.
According to him, about 900 out of the 1330acres of land had already been encroached upon, with more than 3000-4000 houses built there.
He assured landlords who had structures outside the 200-acre land already encroached upon that the REGSEC would make recommendations to the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources for the regularisation of their properties.
“After this exercise, the landlords association outside the 200 acres should meet quickly forREGSEC to make recommendations to the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources for onward submission to the seat of government for documents of those properties to be considered, leading to their regularisation so that at least the owners can say they now have properties and documents covering them,” the Regional Minister said.
This, he explained, would give some relief to those who had lived around for 20 to 30 years and not knowing what their fate was, adding that “but today, I can assure them that we would make strong recommendations for them to be able to regularise, or rather have their documents regularised for them.”
The remaining land, MrQuartey said, would be secured and handed over to the CSIR-ARI for them to decide what it would be used for since it was a government property.
The Adentan MCE, for his part, advised prospective land buyers in the Municipality to be careful with the kind of people they would buy the land from “because every land or property belongs to someone”.
The Ghanaian Times, in its June 21 issue, reported the ultimatum given by the REGSEC to encroachers on 200 land belonging to the ARI to vacate it or face the ejection.
BY LAWRENCE VOMAFA-AKPALU & BENJAMIN ARCTON-TETTEY
