Tension at Bortianor over land sales
Tension is brewing between 20 family heads, the youth of Bortianor on one hand and their traditional rulers on the other over the sale of a tract of land to one Franca.
This follows the failure of the traditional rulers of Bortianor, who reside at Ga Mashie in Accra, to arrange a formal meeting with Franca to explain to the youth why a family farmland was sold to him.
It is also alleged that Franca has started selling portions of the land to some people, thereby denying the family heads of Bortianor their source of livelihood.
The traditional rulers of Bortianor are Nii Akotey IV of Bortianor, Jaasetse Nii Kwei Aku, Nii Ankonam, Nii Atofotse,Nii Adontehene, Nii Mankralo and Nii Shipi, among others.
Speaking at a durbar organised by the 20 family heads at Bortianor on Sunday but not attended by the traditional rulers, Nii Abusua Okai, Gbese family head of Bortianor, a spokesperson for the 20 families said several attempts to arrange a meeting with Franca had failed and that the youth had come to realise that the traditional rulers and Franca were hindering them from knowing the culprits who supposedly sold the land, for the law to take its course against them.
Nii Okai said the youth sought to have a meeting with Franca but he asked his security to inform them that he had travelled.
The spokesperson said what was worrying was that Franca had started deploying land guards to the land that stretched to the sea to harasss the youth who had been employed at the new site as masons and labourers by individuals who had bought the land from the heads of the families.
He said the family heads and the youth had held meetings and had decided to use the appropriate means to pursue and know who among the traditional rulers sold such a vast land to Franca.
He said the 20 family heads would use appropriate means to pursue the matter to the core.
He said the youth of Bortianor had had their share of bad publicity and would want the authorities to to know what was happening in order to restrain the youth from taking the the law into their own hands to chase away the land guards Franca had stationed on the hilltops overlooking the town.
Mr Emmanuel Kofi Agyei, the chairman of Bortianor land owners association, said Bortianor did not have schools, markets and other social amenities befitting it status as a first class seafront residential area. As such, the people in the town had to unite to demand their fair share of the national cake.
He said members of the association were prepared to assist them develop the town when they presented themselves as a united people.
By Abdul Aziz/Daily Graphic/Ghana
