Government to review land acquisition - Committee starts work next year

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has assured the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs that he will set up a committee to take a comprehensive look into the issue of the compulsory acquisition of lands by the government in the region.

The committee, which would be established to start work next year, would look at the possibility of restoring lands to their allodial owners, he said.

President Akufo-Addo gave the assurance when he addressed the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs in Dodowa yesterday as part of his working tour of the region.

He noted that the committee would make appropriate recommendations for a decision by the government and admitted that "a few weeks to the holding of elections, the setting up of this committee this year may not be feasible”.

First move

As a sign of commitment to the pledge, the President charged the Minister of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mr Kofi Dzamesi, to commence stakeholder engagements with the house on the composition of the committee and its terms of reference.

He assured the house of the government's support to the chieftaincy institution, so that it could be resilient.

He announced that six new office complexes and bungalows would be provided for the six new regional houses of chiefs.

“Additionally, as I have said, we will strive to give to the institution the requisite support to resolve chieftaincy matters and carry out research in many areas of relevance to curb chieftaincy-related conflicts,” he stressed.

Peace

President Akufo-Addo said the government would ensure that the peace and the security that the country was enjoying was not tampered with before, during and after the December 7 polls.

He called for the collaboration of chiefs to avoid the recurrence of the deplorable events that took place recently at Odododiodio.

Development projects

As part of the government’s Agenda 111, which seeks to build hospitals in districts that do not have them, the President told the house that in the course of the next 12 months, the Greater Accra Region would have its share.

“There are 847 projects being executed in the region, with 423 completed and the remaining 424 ongoing,” he said.

He said out of the 423 completed projects, 87 were in the educational sector, 17 in the health sector, 173 road projects, 74 water and sanitation projects, 25 in the industrial sector and 10 market projects.

Commendation

The President of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs, Nii Okwei Kinka Dowuona VI, commended President Akufo-Addo for fulfilling the promises he made to the people of Ghana prior to the 2016 polls.

He said the government’s policies had impacted positively on the lives of the people, reduced corruption and led to the progress of the nation.
Nii Dowuona mentioned some of the policies fulfilled to include One-district, One-factory (1D1F), free SHS, One-village, One-dam, the digital address system, the national identification cards and the creation of six new regions.

He was full of praise for the President for ensuring that this year’s Homowo celebrations were peaceful and incident-free.

Paramountcy

Nii Dowuona said the house was made up of 13 paramountcies, and that any chief who was not part of the house was not considered a legitimate traditional ruler in the region.

He said the house had commenced the process of documenting all legitimate chiefs and also facilitated the adjudication of cases to reduce the number of litigations in the region.