Tension is mounting in the Ashaiman Municipality of the Greater Accra region, following the sale of a community park to a private developer.
Residents have been resisting the sale of the said field, popularly known as Konkote Park, located at Middle East, a suburb of the municipality, which has been used for sporting, recreation, political and funeral activities.
Some residents, who spoke to the Ghanaian Times, said the park had been used by the community for the past 40 years and did not understand why it should be allocated to a private developer by the Tema Development Corporation.
They, therefore, vowed to resist any development by the said private developer known as Nana Ohene Gyan Aggrey, a businessman.
They said the developer always come to the park with armed police escort and added that if he was the rightful owner of the place he did not need security personnel to accompany him.
The chairman of the area association (Middle East Residents Association), Mr Godson Kwao, in an interview stated that, the park had been encroached on numerous times but on each occasion, residents were able to resist such private developers.
He stated that these illegal encroachments were in the known of the Tema Traditional Council, Tema Development Corporation (TDC), Ashaiman Municipal Assembly (ASHMA) and other stakeholders.
He said, in the matter of the recent encroachment, ASHMA was informed about the presence of a 40-footer container, building materials, and other personal effects that Nana Ohene Gyan Aggrey dumped on a portion of the park, which he claimed he had bought.
According to him, the assembly quickly stepped in and took the container to their premises, only for it to be released to the developer, who returned it to the park after one week.
He wondered why ASHMA, would have done such a U-turn.
When contacted, the Municipal Engineer of ASHMA, Busarat Saeed, said he was ordered by his superiors to release the container to Nana Gyan Aggrey on humanitarian grounds, so that he could pack his items on the land and leave.
He said Nana Gyan Aggrey signed an undertaken to that effect.
The Municipal Chief Executive of the assembly, Mr Albert Boakye Okyere, in a further explanation said the assembly had begun investigation into how the said developer acquired the land and authenticity of his documents.
He explained that the assembly has sent their personnel to TDC, to begin the enquiry.
Mr Ian Okwei, Head of Protocol in an interview said the developer did not encroach on the park. Rather he was only allocated the frontage which had documents.
When contacted, Nana Gyan Aggrey claimed he had documents from TDC to prove ownership of the park.
FROM IAN MOTEY, ASHAIMAN
