Protection of state lands: Suhuyini files urgent question on private entity

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Tamale North, Alhaji  Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini, has filed an urgent question for the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources (MLNR) to be invited to brief the House and the nation on the engagement of a private entity to protect state lands.

He said the action of the MLNR was a clear breach of the Vigilantism and Related Offences Act, 2019 (Act, 999).

Putting up a defence for disclosing what transpired during a meeting between the Lands and Forestry Committee of Parliament in an interview yesterday, Mr Suhuyini said he did nothing wrong for making public discussions at the committee.

Suhuyini’s action

In his view, he acted rightly and it was based on what transpired at the committee meeting that  he had filed an urgent question demanding Lands and Natural Resources Minister be hauled to the House.

“I have breached nothing as there is nothing in our Standing Orders that say that one cannot speak about happenings at the committee until the committee finishes its report.

“Mind you, a committee of Parliament is to be held in public; in fact sitting of the entire Parliament is supposed to be held in Parliament and that is why you have the public gallery,” he said.

The Tamale North MP, who is also the Deputy Ranking Member of the Lands and Forestry Committee, argued that there was nothing that was “hidden about the work of Parliament”.

“Unless anyone can point to me any Standing Order or a law that has been breached,” he said. 

Chairman’s response

However, the Chairman of the Lands and Forestry Committee of Parliament, Francis Manu-Adabor, described the action of Deputy Ranking Member of the committee as wrong.

He said a Member of Parliament who disagreed with any issue discussed at the committee level reserved the right to file a question or anything for redress.

“But you do not take any information from our committee work to the press without reporting first to the Speaker,” he said.

Why banter?

At a press conference last Monday, Mr Suhuyini called for a probe into the use of the services of a private entity to retrieve and protect government-owned lands by state institutions.

The call followed a revelation by the Chief Director of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources (MNRL), Professor Patrick Agbesinyale, to the Committee on Lands and Forestry last week that MLNR, the Ghana Armed Forces and the Ghana Police Service engaged the private entity to retrieve lands belonging to them.

Reactions

The ministry, however, debunked the allegation.

In a statement issued and signed by the Director of the MLNR, Prof. Agbesinyale, the ministry said neither the ministry nor the government had contracted the services of landguards in its operations.

 “However, the ministry, through its agency, Lands Commission, legally engaged the services of Aynok Holding Limited, a registered limited liability company, to assist in reclaiming encroached government lands.”

“This engagement has been in effect since 2012,” the statement said.

Similarly, the Ghana Armed Forces and the Ghana Police also came out strongly to dismiss the allegation.