Stop grabbing public lands

Two weeks ago, workers of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority expressed concern over what they said was the deteriorating state of aviation safety in the country.

In a statement issued on June 20, they blamed the encroachment on aviation lands as the main cause of the problem. According to them, the authority acquired two parcels of land at Adentan (La Nkwantanan) and Labadi (La Wireless) for aviation development and expansion, part of which it said was taken over by the state in 2007 for residential purposes.

The statement further said the governing party has taken over “almost the whole of the La Nkwantanan land, between Madina and Adentan.”

Last week, the Research Staff Association of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) were up in arms with the government and other ‘unseen hands’ for allegedly facilitating the illegal sale of CSIR lands across the country, thereby stalling research for national development.

The CSIR has threatened to take legal action against all those involved to reclaim the lands belonging to the CSIR, especially the 78-acre Airport Residential Area land, 2.2 acres of which a private developer is allegedly developing.

Besides these challenges, the Graphic Business is also aware of the wanton destruction of the remaining forest cover at Achimota where the land is being taken to build luxury residential apartments.

In spite of the hue and cry, personalities behind these shameful acts do not budge. What is even more interesting is the silence on the part of the government over such unfortunate acts which are breeding complete lawlessness in the country.

The Graphic Business finds these acts as not just unfortunate and disgraceful but greedy. The larger society has to throw its weight behind those raising the alarm to bring a complete end to this wanton clamour for prime lands which do not belong to them. 

The Graphic Business wants to remind those behind these acts of lawlessness that such prime lands are not there by chance. They have been taken over from their rightful owners (chiefs and their people) by the state free of charge to serve public interest. Research, aviation safety, expansion of schools, hospitals, parks and gardens and what have you, are all worthy projects that serve the public, rather than parochial interests. 

It is, therefore, important for us as a people and a government to respect our laws. The law makes it very clear that if these lands are not fit for their purpose any longer, they should return to their original owners in accordance with law. They should not be at the mercy of some politicians for grabs.

When the parcel of land in front of the 37 Military Hospital was sold to a private developer, an obviously disenchanted ex-President Rawlings said while the people cried for expansion of the facilities of the hospital, land around it was being used for other purposes.

The paper commends the CSIR, GCAA and any other organisation for the fight against these acts of disrespect for society and gross impunity. We fully support their actions and hope that in the long run, sanity will prevail. The land grabbing must stop.

The paper also wants the government to publish how much the state has realised from the sale of lands and what such monies have been used for. This transparency alone can help steer us out of such indiscriminate grabbing of prime land meant for public use.