A businesswoman, Joyce Obenewaa, has petitioned the minister for Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development , Martin Agyei Mensah Korsah to investigate acts of corruption and criminal decision making at the Ga East Municipal Assembly that are affecting development in the area.
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Attention: Hon. Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah – Minister
Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development
Corruption and Criminal Decision-Making at the Ga East Municipal Assembly
Mr. Minister, when laws are enforced impulsively by employees of your Ministry, citing nebulous bylaws to protect persons in violation of the law, it indicts the commitment of your Ministry to fight corruption. Furthermore, injustice, whenever and wherever it occurs, must be resisted to protect the rights afforded citizens by the Constitution. I submit for your consideration a case of abuse of authority and harassment by the Ga East Municipal Assembly (GEMA).
Background Information
- My name is Joyce Obenewaa. I am a businesswoman–The Proprietor of Thank You Jehovah Cosmetics located in Achimota, Accra. I am also the co-owner of House No. Q258 located on Celtuce Street in Point 1, Dome Kwabenya.
- The land measures 80ft, 100ft, 110 ft. Attached is a photocopy of the indenture and site plan.
- Somewhere in May 2024, I rebuilt a fence wall, which was dangerously caving posing a mortal danger to my octogenarian mother, who lives in the house.
- On May 14, 2024, one Prempeh, who carries himself as a senior officer at GEMA, who I later discovered is a driver, came to the house with one Mr. Amoo to stop work on the fence wall. These two individuals disregarded elementary courtesy. They seized a wheelbarrow, a head-pan, and a spade, which they later returned. They did not issue a Notice of Infraction under Section 94 of the Local Governance Act 2016 and National Building Regulations, 1996, L.I. 1630. As requested, a site plan was sent to Mr. Amoo (0244815287) using WhatsApp.
- On May 23, 2024, two neighbours visited my house. While they acknowledged that the land on which I intended to extend the fence wall belonged to me, they told my brother not to extend it further.
- On May 23, 2022, the spouse of one of the men, who visited the house, briefly stopped by the site. She told the workers that “they were wasting their time building the fence wall and that she was going to stop the work.”
I later discovered that the woman works at GEMA. She lives on Celtuse Street in House No. GE 251—6323.
- Hours after the lady employee at GEMA had threatened to stop the construction of the wall, someone sent an email was sent to the Municipal Engineer, Peter Bah-Lano. In the email, the author wrote “an illegal activity (allegation) that a fence is been erected to disadvantage a neighbour blocking access to his house.” Attached is a photocopy of the email. The allegation was patently false. The road was not blocked as alleged. The neighbours drove freely without hindrance. Attached is a photograph of the road and frontage of the wall and dugouts.
- On May 24, 2024, a four-member task force from GEMA, led by Chris, visited the site in a white Nissan pickup to stop the work. They turned down my brother’s invitation to come to the house to discuss the purpose of the visit. They started filling the dugouts with sand. According to one of the workers, they were “under command to stop the work,” a statement consistent with one made earlier by the woman who works at GEMA.
- They sized a head pan, a shovel, and a wheelbarrow, which they returned. A Notice was issued. As requested, a site plan was sent to Chris (0246203008) using WhatsApp. Attached is a photocopy of the Notice.
- My aging mother who is on medication for high blood pressure went into mild apoplexy upon witnessing the hostile exchanges between the workers and the taskforce.
- On May 27, 2024, I directed my brother, a visiting scholar, to go to GEMA to discuss the matter. He met with Peter Bah-Lano who requested a site plan and an architectural drawing of the new fence wall. He complied. He retained the services of a licenced architect at GEMA. He submitted the composite drawings to the Department of Works.
- On June 5, 2024, a confidant informed my brother that the various requests for documents by GEMA, were attempts to coerce me to give up the land or to bribe GEMA officials; a proposition he outrightly rejected. Heeding Peter Bah-Lano’s advice at the meeting, my brother applied for a permit and paid the Tracing Fee. Attached is a photocopy of the Tracing Fee. A date was scheduled for site visitation.
- On June 5, while at GEMA, my brother asked Chris the following: Did the Assembly permit the owner of House No. Q278 on Celtuse Street, permission to clean out GEMA’s order to remove a portion of her wall in the street? According to him, the “woman came to see my boss [Peter Bah-Lano]. I do not know what they discussed.” Chris’s imprecise response is an open secret at GEMA; horror stories of extortion and nepotism.
- On June 19, a team of site inspectors from GEMA and other government agencies visited the site. They spent approximately five minutes without intensively studying the area; they did not ask questions, nor did they allow my brother to ask one. Derisively, Peter Bah-Lano told my brother the team was going to inform me about its decision later.
- On July 2, 2024, my brother went to the Assembly to check if the Spatial Planning Committee had reached a decision. He came home empty-handed.
- On July 3, my brother went to GEMA to collect the decision letter. Attached is a photocopy of the decision letter.
- The letter was nothing to write home about. At best, the letter was a run-of-the-mill document. For example, it did not provide a rationale for the decision of the Spatial Planning Committee; a felonious tactic often adopted by dishonest public officials to conceal an illegality.
- My brother’s meeting with Kwabena Asiedu-Bediako exposed a criminal subculture, apathy, and lack of courtesy at GEMA.
- Asked to explain the basis for the decision of the Spatial Planning Committee, Kwabena Asiedu- grotesquely told my brother to apply for the rationale. Prodded further, he said that extending the existing fence line was going to “narrow the road.” Asked whether he was aware the land earmarked for the extension of the fence wall was legally mine per the site plan, he said yes. Asked whether he knew that House Nos. Q276, Q277, Q278 Celtuse Street and one other, were partially in the road, he said yes. Asked whether the owner of House No. Q278 Celtuse Street had the authority to clean up an order by GEMA on her wall, he said he was not privy to the order. Attached is a photograph of House No. Q278 on Celtuse Street.
- Kwabena Asare-Bediako could not answer the following questions: Should my rights to full ownership to the land be sacrificed to placate violators of the law and public officials who underwrite the criminality? Am I responsible for building permits issued by GEMA to homeowners under shady circumstances? My brother told him that he was going to escalate the matter further, to which he replied we could.
Honourable, Minister, I am seeking the following action:
- Override the decision by the Spatial Planning Committee.
- A visit to the site by an independent task force from the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development.
- Prempeh and Amoo should be dismissed for using the state’s resources, i.e., truck and fuel, to run an extortion ring at GEMA. Such an egregious act should not be tolerated by any government agency or heads of agencies of agencies for that matter.
- Peter Bah-Lano, Kwabena Asare-Bediako and members of the Spatial Planning Committee should be investigated and dismissed for gross incompetence and for engaging in administrative theft, i.e., deciding on a matter without a justification backed by law.
- The woman employee, who threatened to stop work on the wall should be identified and dismissed for abuse of authority.
- Allegations of extortion by officials at GEMA should be investigated and persons identified for depriving the Ministry and Assembly of revenue dismissed.
Honourable Minister, as a citizen, I have committed myself to obey the laws of this country. I have sought justice for others, the same way I have sought for myself. Justice is meaningful when laws are enforced to their fullest, and not for pecuniary or material gains. I am counting on your cooperation to resolve this matter.
Sincerely yours,
Joyce Obenewaa