Journalist Erasmus Kwaw has accused the Kasoa Nyanyano Police Station Command of unjustifiably trying to extort GHC2500 and transportation costs from him over a land dispute at Nyanyano, Kasoa in the Central Region.
According to him, the Police claim the money would be used to settle the cost of surveying his land despite the latter land being duly registered at the Central Regional Lands Commission in Cape Coast.
He said that, in addition, the Police have asked him to provide transportation costs for their team to travel to Cape Coast to authenticate and verify his documents.
Giving a background of the case, Mr. Kwaw said he bought a parcel of land in Kasoa in January 2013 and got it registered at the Lands Commission in Cape Coast in July 2023.
On 30th September, he was alerted by a friend that somebody had transported construction materials made up of sand, concrete blocks, and stones on his registered land.
Since he was outside the country, he contacted the Central East Police Regional Commander, DCOP David Senanu Eklu to lodge a formal complaint and was directed to send a representative to the Gomoa Nyanyano Police Command.
The Police visited the piece of land in contention and later arrested the alleged architect of the plot to sell the land, one Sakyi, who lives close to the Nyanyano Police Station, and released him on bail.
The Police informed the complainant they were going to do further investigations including contacting the Nyanyano Chief’s Palace and needed two weeks to complete the task. The complainant said he turned down an invitation by the Police investigator to speak to him on the phone during the two-week investigative period.
On 23rd October, the complainant said he was informed that the trespassers had resumed work on his site and had brought more building materials this time. Acting through a friend, another complaint was lodged with the Police, and the trespassers were arrested. On 24 October, the complainant caused the arrest of the trespassers again after they dug a foundation and started casting concrete on the land.
The complainant said he informed DCOP David Eklu about the latest development in the case and he (DCOP Eklu) asked to speak to the complainant’s representative.
When the parties were brought before the Nyanyano Police Commander, they found out the other party did not have any documents to lay claim to the land. On the other hand, the complainant produced his land registration document issued by the Central Regional Lands Commission through his representative.
It was at this point that the complainant was informed by the Police that parties to the case had to bear the cost of paying a surveyor, GHC2,500 to survey the land and further proceed to the Central Regional Lands Commission to verify the coordinates. The Police informed the complainant that since the other party had refused to make any such payment, he had to bear the full cost.
However, the complainant, who is currently outside the country, informed DCOP Eklu that he was not amenable to making any further payments, having paid the Police T&T for every visit to his site.
He rather entreated the Police to liaise with the Gomoa East District Assembly and the Central Regional Lands Commission to ascertain the veracity or otherwise of his land registration documents and give their final judgment on the matter.
He explained that the Lands Commission sent surveyors to the piece of land in dispute to verify and authenticate the geographic coordinates, as well as letters to the Gomoa East District Assembly and Gomoa Nyanyano Palace before granting him the title deed to the land on 4th July 2023.
The Police, however, insisted they would only deal with their own selected surveyor in their investigation and eventually contact the Lands Commission to complete their investigation.
They insisted that this is how they have been dealing with cases of land dispute in their jurisdiction. He added that the Central East Regional Commander of the Police, DCOP David Senanu Eklu affirmed the decision of the Nyanyano Police Station to demand GHc2,500 from him in a meeting arranged between Mr. Kwaw’s representative and the Nyanyano Police Station at Kasoa Millenium City on Tuesday, 31st October.
It will be recalled that the Central East Police Command warned Asafotse groups and land-guards to desist from illegally collecting money and seizing tools from land developers who had genuinely bought parcels of land in Kasoa and Gomoa Fetteh in a news story in September 2022.
