Pay property rate for development

The Ga South Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Jerry Acquaye Thompson, has called on landlords in the municipality to pay their property rates promptly.

That, he said, was to ensure the speedy provision of social amenities and other development projects in the area.

Mr Thompson said this at a get- together organised by the West Hills Landlords and Residents Association in Accra.

The event, which was attended by landlords and residents, was on the theme: “Land litigation and its effects on community development”.

Responsibility

He said developers in new areas often complained about the lack of social amenities, yet they did not pay their property rates from which money was generated to provide the amenities.

“If every Ghanaian would pay his or her tax, there would be enough money for development in every area of this country. We always talk about our right but we do not talk about our responsibilities,” he said.

Mr Thompson said, for instance, the construction of roads, markets, schools and police stations depended on money, and that ‘it is only through the collection of rates that we can provide these things”.

“For instance, one kilometre road costs more than GH¢1 million to construct,” he said.

Land guards
On the activities of land guards, the MCE said the assembly was putting measures in place to deal with the their activities in the area.

Mr Thompson said security personnel would be detailed to patrol the areas to smoke out such people because it was through “landguardism” that some people had lost their lives.

“We will not sit down and allow such people to hold the majority of people to ransom. We would make sure we clear them from the areas”.

“Once a land is under litigation, the claimants to the lands must go to court and sort their case out. They should not engage land guards to disturb innocent developers,” he said.

Peace
For his part, the Chairman of the association, Mr George Bentil, said it was worrisome that some residents or landlords could not sleep peacefully or go about their normal day-to-day activities because of the activities of land guards.

“It is very clear the effects this negative practice is having on our community and by extension other communities; as there can hardly be effective neighbourhood arrangements to protect ourselves security-wise and our total well-being,” he said.

He charged the security agencies to come to the aid of the people to ensure that they went about their activities peacefully.

Mr Bentil said the area would be zoned and given various alarms as part of activities to deal with armed robberies to ensure peace in the area.

Activities outlined by the association, he said, included the provision of identification cards to members, insurance policy for members, gates at the 15 entry points of the community to monitor the movements of people and identify criminals, hold monthly prayer meetings and establish a community policing unit in the area.

“With God on our side, come December 2016, we would achieved all of these,” he stated.