Some aggrieved traders in Ashaiman market on the land
The leadership of some aggrieved youth groups in Ashaiman in the Greater Accra Region has vowed to resist any attempt by management of Murphy Homes, a real estate firm, to demarcate and sell lands at Community 21.
According to the youth, they would also stop the private estate company from putting up residential properties on about 152 acres of land in Ashaiman.
They said that they would not allow the real estate company to possess the land.
The aggrieved youth, together with some traders last Friday, stormed the area and attempted to destroy properties of the estate company but rescind their decision after the workers immediately agreed to vacate the land.
Barely a week after the incident, the workers returned to the land and this provoked the youth who have vowed to clash with workers of Murphy Homes.
The angry youth have therefore called on government to immediately put a stop to construction on the site and launch investigations into the matter or else they would take the law into their hands.
They alleged that the leaders in the area have been compromised by the estate company.
Yahaya Tahiru, one of the leaders of the youth, told DAILY GUIDE that “we shall do everything within our power to stop Murphy Homes from building on the land because the land belongs to government and the information that Free Zone boss sold the land immediately after the election can’t be true.
“We, the youth of Ashaiman, need jobs and government has promised to implement the one-district-one-factory policy and that is our home but where is the factory going to be built because there is no land in this area. It is a joke because we are ready to shed blood to revert the land to the state.”
Earlier, angry former Member of Parliaments (MPs) for Ashaiman Constituency joined the traditional authorities in the area to vent their anger on some workers of Murphy Homes.
The chiefs, led by the Regent of the area, Nii Annan Adzor I and some youth of Ashaiman, chased out the workers who were clearing and demarcating the controversial lands.
They questioned why land ceded by the traditional authorities to government for the construction of bungalows for workers of the GFZB could be sold to individuals while the municipality lacks land to put up police station, court complex, as well as government factory.
The about 152 acres of land at the Community 21 was compulsorily acquired by the colonial government in 1952 for the Tema Development Corporation (TDC).
TDC, as at 1972, had failed to develop the lands and were therefore leased them to some farmers for almost 21 years for agricultural purposes.
In 1997, the government of Ghana declared the said land a Free Zone residential enclave in accordance with Section 7(1) of the Free Zones Act, 1995 (act 504).
The move was fiercely resisted by farmers working on the land.
However, GFZB used the military in 2012 to demolish all structures on the land and ejected traders, who had virtually turned the area into market.
Murphy Homes claims it bought the land from GFZB on December 8, 2016 to put up residential accommodation for sale.
From Vincent Kubi, Ashaiman