Land guards invade Irrigation Site at Ashaiman, (PAGE 29, JULY 21, 2010)

Story: Rose Hayford Darko, Ashaiman
ENCROACHERS, described as land guards, are said to have invaded the vegetable farms at the Irrigation Dam site at Roman Down and Jericho, near Ashaiman, and selling the land to potential developers.
More than 150 acres of land were acquired by the government for the Irrigation Development Authority (IDA) for demonstration farming but half of it has been illegally acquired and turned into residential facilities.
A spokesman for the Ashaiman Roman Down Co-operative Farmers Society, Mr Emmanuel Doe, told the Daily Graphic that the situation was brought to the attention of the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly long ago but the rate of encroachment kept increasing.
Sources at the IDA and the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly confirmed the story but added that there were plans to demolish structures in the area because the developers had crossed the buffer zones which protected the dam.
According to sources, the land guards were often armed with dangerous weapons to ward off any resistance from the farmers as they (land guards) demarcated the land for potential developers.
Mr Doe said many more pillars had been erected at vantage points on the land, indicating that those areas had been sold out, but he could not tell the person behind the activities of the land guards.
He said the 150-acre land had virtually been reduced to half and expressed the fear that very soon the whole land area would be covered with buildings, pushing the IDA and the farmers out.
When contacted, the Tema Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Augustine Gyenning, said activities of the land guards in the Ashaiman area had become a matter of concern to the police.
He said land guards created multiple problems because after they had aided their agents to secure the land, they in turn attacked the developer for compensation for work done.
ACP Gyenning said attempts to refuse them had led to bloody incidents and harassment.
He said there were some of such cases pending at the courts and appealed to victims to report any such incident to the police for action.
ACP Gyenning urged chiefs to desist from the practice of using land guards to achieve their objectives.
Meanwhile, the Ashaiman Municipal Chief Executive, Numo Adinortey Addison, has confirmed that the government acquired and reserved the farmlands for farming.
He said the assembly had called for the original site plan of the area from the IDA to enable it to undertake the demolition operation.

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The spokesman for the farmers, Mr Emmanuel Doe, pointing at the encroached land which, hitherto, had vegetables and other crops but now have some structures springing up.