Henry Quartey
The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, has hinted of a demolishing exercise on the Animal Research Institute (ARI) land at Adenta in Accra.
The ARI is an appendage of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on whose land there has been massive encroachment.
Encroachers have been given 48 hours to leave, as the illegal structures have been penciled for demolition, the minister announced yesterday during a press conference.
The CSIR, he said, is the foremost public research institution which owns over a thousand acres of land which acquisition was made in 1976 at Adentan-Frafraha for the development and transfer of livestock and poultry technologies to communities, farmer groups, and to ensure food security for the nation in the long term.
He said “the CSIR-ARI is currently governed by the CSIR Act 521 1996 under Executive Instrument (E.I. 38).”
The minister indicated that to enable the ARI to operate as mandated by law, all land owners including original owners at Berekuso at Akuapem were duly compensated, but those lands have however been encroached upon by some unscrupulous individuals and land guards.
He said “the armed land guards, we are told, walk in and out of the institute with impunity, some riding motor bikes and compromising the biosecurity of the farm animals. Staff of the ARI have been beaten up and molested on several occasions by these armed land guards who have threatened to burn down the junior staff quarters.”
The Regional Minister said though the Assembly as well as the Animal Research Institute has issued warnings to developers within the perimeter to stop any development, it has largely been ignored by these encroachers with impunity.
“REGSEC is hereby giving a 48hr notice from now to all those who are putting up such unauthorised structures within the fenced wall to pack their tools and materials from the land without fail. Any persons found loitering on the fenced 200-acre land after the deadline will be dealt with in accordance with the laws of the land. REGSEC with the Adentan Municipal Assembly and the Animal Research Institute (ARI) of the Council for Industrial Research (CSIR) will proceed to remove every structure on the land subsequently,” he added.
He stated that, as part of efforts to prevent further development of the illegally acquired lands by encroachers, the CSIR in 2014 obtained a writ to stop further development of the lands, which failed to materialise following further effort in 2017 to fence the 200 acre portion of the land left.
Mr. Henry Quartey therefore, stated that, to prevent further encroachment on the CSIR lands, REGSEC is collaborating with the Adentan Municipal Assembly and the CSIR to remove all those unauthorised structures mushrooming within the fenced land without further delay.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah