Controversy has erupted over the land on which the Anyaa market and lorry terminal [station] has been sited.
The Charbukwei family of Anyaa who claimed to be the original owners of the 3-acre land are battling government for control since according to them, they do not know how the land in question was acquired by the government.
In a letter dated May 16, 2016 and addressed to the Director of the Department of Urban Roads, lawyer for the family, Jedro Imbeah of Akyem Chambers said “it appears that there is no known Executive Instrument or other legal enactment under which the said land was acquired by the government of Ghana for the project.”
While appreciating government efforts to bring socio-economic development to all the sectors of Ghana, the lawyer said “their [his clients] concern is that things ought to be done in the right way.”
That they said was in view of government’s deliberate refusal to sign any agreement with them.
They insist that “if there is no Executive Instrument or the legal enactment authorizing the acquisition of the said land for the project, then the right thing must be done by the government of Ghana and/or its agencies.”
In the case that there is indeed an Executive Instrument or other legal enactment under which the said land was acquired by the government of Ghana for the project, they wondered whether that Executive Instrument or the legal enactment make provision for the payment of appropriate compensation to the Charbukwei family of Anyaa, as stipulated in Article 20 (2) (a) of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana.
The family has also raised concerns over the possible management and administration of the project when completed; chief among them is whether they would be allotted shares in the project after completion, whether they would derive any revenue from the operations of the said project after completion or if any direct benefit would accrue to them.
The concerns of Charbukwei family seems to have fallen on deaf ears since government and for that matter the Department of Urban Roads have not even responded to their letter, let alone respond to them, compelling their lawyer to write a reminder dated June 16, 2016 calling their attention.
They are therefore considering the option of going to court if persuasion fails to yield over the project which is almost 70 percent completed.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu