6 Communities live in fear
Six communities in the Domeabra-Obom Constituency of the Ga South Municipality in the Greater Accra Region are living in fear following persistent attacks by unknown armed men alleged to be land guards.
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The communities are; Obaakwa, Bosuafise, Asabade, Adiembra, Okushibiade and Krokorhwe.
The inhabitants of the six communities have a population of about 30,000, majority of whom are farmers.
The Secretary to the Obaakwa community, Mr Henry Sackey, who read a speech at a press conference in Accra on behalf of the chiefs from the six communities said the activities of land guards coupled with encroachment on their land by Regimanuel Gray Estate Limited, a real estate developer, was making life difficult for the residents.
Perpetual worry
He said inhabitants of the six communities were subjected to brutalities from the armed men who attacked them with guns and machetes on a daily basis.
“In extreme cases, the criminals beat residents, sack them from their lands and sell out the lands to estate developers,” he said.
According to the Mr Sackey, quite recently a deposed chief of the Akwanor family, Obeney Akwanor, sold lands belonging to the six communities to Regimanuel Gray Estate Limited.
“Three weeks ago, some people arrived on our land with a container and a bulldozer. When they were asked where they were from, they said they had been sent by Regimanuel Gray Estate Limited,” he said.
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According to Mr Sackey, residents of the six communities, especially the youth, “are furious and have warned that nobody must set foot there again or face the consequences”.
He said a meeting was held last year between the community and the Executive Chairman of the company, Mr Emmanuel Botchwey, to settle the matter but unfortunately it yielded no result.
“We told him that our land was not for sale and that the person who sold it to him was not a chief,” he said.
Mr Sackey said although no one had as yet asked them to evacuate from the 3,000-acre land, “we want the management of Regimanuel Gray Estate Ltd. to come and take their container away from our land”.
Asked whether the police had been made aware of the issue, he said a petition had been written to the Amasaman Divisional Police Command but nothing had been done about it.
Mr Sackey, therefore, called on the government to intervene before the issue escalated.
When contacted, the Executive Chairman of Regimanuel Gray Estate Limited, Mr Emmanuel Botchwey, who spoke to the Daily Graphic on telephone, said he was out of the country and therefore could not comment on the issue.