In a recent investigative prowl by the distinguished Member of Parliament(MP) for North Tongu Hon. Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa to uncover State land looters, it has emerged that a certain Reverend Minister by name Dr. Ezekiel of Dani Ike Real Estate has been caught in the web of wrongfully appropriating portions of land belonging to the Department of Parks and Gardens(DPG) situate at Cantonment.
The North Tongu MP had earlier hinted on the issue of State land grabbing on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana Show few days ago and had proceeded to raise an ‘urgent question’ on the floor of Parliament for the Minister for Local government, Decentralization and Rural Development Hon. Martin Adjei Korsah to come up with some answers on the subject.
“Is the Honorable Minister aware that this private developer who has no title has gone to place two containers on the Park and Gardens land and is harassing workers and management of parks and gardens that he wants to begin construction and what are you doing to get those containers out of that site”, Hon. Ablakwa asked the Minister
In the Minister’s response, he stated that “on the particular case of the Department of Parks and Gardens land in Cantonment, the recent claimant(Dr. Ezekiel) to the portion of the land had indicated that he acquired a title to the land in contention but could not produce the title or document after he took the matter to court. The court subsequently dismissed the case and requested the plaintiff to re-enter the case with proper documentation”.
He added that “our checks however revealed that the claimant did not have any valid documentation to the land. I wish to state that the land in question has a valid certificate of allocation dated 2nd October 1952 to the Department of Parks and Gardens. The Land Use and Special Planning Authority(LUSPA) had in 2022 cautioned the general public to stay away from the use of the land for any private development purposes. Pursuant to the Land Use and Special Planning Act 2016, it states that green belt, gardens and parks usage cannot be altered except through Parliament”.
“In this regard, the Ministry is working closely with LUSPA to ensure that the developers and citizenry will adhere to the planning and development processes under the purview of the MMDEs and that’s what the Ministry is doing to protect the lands belonging to the Department of Parks and Gardens in Accra and other parts of Ghana”, he stressed.
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