By Alex Boye
The allodial owners of Kwabenya, Ashongman and Agbogba lands-including the Ghana Atomic Energy Lands-who are also the accredited elders of OdaiNtow Family of Kwabenyan, an Accra suburb are appalled bythe actions of the Queenmother of Kwabenya, NaaKorkoiDugbatey I, and some other persons against an Estate Developer on the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) land, BerchieAcheamfour.
The Elders of the Family have in a press release, have spirited defended the estate developer saying that Acheamfuor was only executing his task as a contractor and not illegally selling lands belonging to the government or any family as has been alleged by some group of people.
The release by the OdaiNtow Family comes against the backdrop of recent media publications that Mr. BerchieAcheamfourwas selling several acres of GAEC Land to defray the cost he incurred from a police project he was executing at Kwabenya.
Read below the full, unedited release by the Odai Ntow Family:
We the accreditors elders of NII ODAI NTOW FAMILY of Ashongman, TeshieKwabenya and Accra, the Allodial owners of Kwabenya, Ashongman and Agbogba lands (including the Ghana Atomic Energy Lands), write to respond to recent media publications with other headlines like, TENTION OVER ATOMIC ENERGY LAND… As Contractor Sells Several Acres to Defray Cost of Police Project. The story is full of inaccuracies and misleading your entire patrons. The facts are as follow;
- The Ghana Atomic Energy Lands was compulsory acquired from NiiOdaiNtow Family in 1963 with an Executive Instrument 73/1975 and part of Crop and Structure compensation paid to the family in 1975 by the General Kutu Acheampong Regime.
- The Queen mother is a queen mother for one of the family which form the NiiOdaiNtow Family. She is the queen mother of Nii Abbey We family which form the NiiOdaiNtow. The other families are AshongDzemawon Family, TettehAfrimie Family and AntehKwakonam Family.
- The Queen Mother has no land within the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) because the family has never granted land to her.
In June, 2020 the Traditional Authority of Kwabenya and NiiOdaiNtow Customary Land Secretariat petitioned the Ga East Municipal Assembly to set up a Market for the good people of Kwabenya.
- Mr. BerchieAkyemfuo was contracted by the Municipal Assembly to mount a fence wall around the market site and a Parcel of Land was used as a consideration for work done, since the Assembly has no funds to pay for the fence wall. This was agreed by the committee set up by the Municipal Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. BerchieAkyemfuo has supported the Queen mother financially during her sickness. Hundreds of thousands was spent on her by Mr. Berchie. She even ordered her land guards to attack Mr. Berchie.
Since the setting up of the Market, the Queen Mother with her Land guards have harassed and attacking the market women claiming ownership of the land. They encroached major part of the land. Some of her land guards have been arrested by the Kwabenya District Police Command.
The Municipal Assembly and the Kwabenya District Police Command, demolished all unauthorized structures from the market site.
The site for the Police Barracks was given to the Onamrokodan Family as compensation for Judgment Debt against the GAEC in 2008. The NiiOdai Family went to court and was advised by the Judge in her ruling, to seek for our Unpaid Compensation from Ghana Government.
The GAEC land legally belong to the state, the family is therefore seeking for the Unpaid Compensation.
We as a family and the Allodial Owners of the GAEC lands pray that, the Queen mother should not be granted any audience at all because she is not the spokesperson of the family.
Singed by Elders of Odai Ntow Family.
