The CEO of Koans Building Solutions Ltd flanked by some offcials of the company addressing the media during the press conference
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Koans Building Solutions Ltd, a subsidiary of Koans Group of Companies, Kofi Anokye, has said his company does a lot of due diligence in the legal acquisition of lands for his real estate business.
According to him, the company, which was established in 1999, legally acquired lands from the Kwansah Family of Kyekyewere and duly paid compensation to every affected farmer working on the land.
He made these known at a press conference on Monday in response to an earlier press conference by some farmers at Kyekyewere, near Nsawam, accusing the company of taking over their lands.
The farmers, led by the Assembly Member of Kyekyewere Electoral Area, Paul Yaw Abedi, accused the CEO of KOANS of illegally taking over their lands and petitioned the Eastern Regional Security Council (REGSEC) to look into the matter.
CEO of Koans, however, indicated in his press conference that the assembly member for Kyekyewere and the farmers acted out of malice and lack of knowledge because they were allegedly being sponsored by a Member of Parliament (MP) to demonstrate against his company.
He mentioned that the MP and some group of people in the area had allegedly sold some of the lands that he had legally bought from the Kwansah Family to some companies. He said the supposed companies after realizing the land belongs to KOANS would be chasing the MP and his group for a refund.
He disclosed that the affected farmers earlier petitioned the REGSEC to investigate the matter to determine the true owners of the land and his company was asked to stop work for four months.
Mr. Anokye stated that REGSEC, after its investigations, realized that the land under question was legally acquired by him and, therefore, gave him the green light to continue with his works.
He said he acquired lands to build estate houses at Pokuase, Kuntunse and Pampamso and never cheated any affected farmer or groups.
When contacted, the MP for the area, Samuel Ayeh-Paye, said he has interest in the matter because the affected farmers come from his constituency.
“He did a similar thing to Hon. Frank Annoh-Dompreh, MP for Nsawam-Adoagyri, some years ago. I will not fall for his tricks,” he said, stressing that the real estate man is known for illegally taking farmlands from poor farmers.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr