Armed Forces hands over residential plots to personnel

The Ghana Armed Forces last Friday started handing over lands to personnel who were unable to possess plots allocated to them through it and the 21st Century Lands Acquisition Scheme at Gomoa Fetteh in the Central Region.

The event was attended by the Military High Command, GAF personnel and beneficiaries of the plots.

At the event, some of the beneficiaries were presented with their indentures.

The 101.56 acres of land have been demarcated to have commercial, recreational, clinic, school infrastructure and places of worship.

As of last Friday, a total of 100 plots had been demarcated.

Concern

The Chief of the Defence Staff, Vice Admiral Seth Amoama, said when he assumed office, one of the major concerns the GAF had "was this problem of service personnel not being able to access land which they had paid for, and it had taken several years to acquire and possess the lands.

He said it was, therefore, his joy to be part of the solution.

He expressed his appreciation and gratitude to the Chief of Gomoa Fetteh for agreeing to allocate the land to the GAF to settle personnel who were unable to possess their plots allocated to them through the Ghana Armed Forces and 21st Century Lands Acquisition Scheme.

"We want to thank you for your generosity and magnanimity," he said.

The CDS explained that the GAF in its quest to assist personnel deal with one of the most difficult problems confronting both service and retired personnel decided to arrange a land scheme in conjunction with 21st Century Company to provide residential plots to personnel at Millennium City in 1998.

"Unfortunately, due to unanticipated problems and occurrences, out of the 1,256 plots that were allocated to the GAF, only 138 were physically possessed," he said.

He said as many as 1,118 plots belonging to 1,104 personnel remained outstanding and unpossessed.

Present and past

"This includes both serving and retired staff aside from those who had been called to glory, unfortunately. "

As a high command, he said "we owe it a duty to ensure personnel receive their lands since the acquisition was done through deduction at source."

Vice Admiral Amoama said the efforts put in was what had given birth to the land at Gomoa Fetteh, and that following the inauguration of the project, the first 100 personnel would be allocated their plots with the rest following suit.

Acquisition 

The Chief of Gomoa Fetteh, Nana Abor Atta II, said the acquisition of the land started under his predecessor, Nana Abor Yamoah II, and that it also included the Police and Immigration.

He said Nana Yamoah got to a point until he passed away and so decided to continue with the work that he started.

He said he gave the police 100 acres of land which was currently under development, promising to give out more parcels if the establishments needed it.

The military, he said, also came and that the parties had been in discussion until the handing over of the plots last Friday.

Nana Att II dismissed allegations from the chiefs and people of Senya that the land belonged to them, stating that they could not produce any documents to prove their claim.

Welfare

The Chief of Staff of the GAF, Major Gen. Nicholas Peter-Andoh, said on assumption of office, the CDS set out not only to strengthen the capacity of the armed forces to deliver on their constitutional mandate but also took steps to ensure that the welfare of personnel was attended to.