The La Traditional Council has performed ‘traditional rites’ to signify reclamation of 114 acres of land that it has retrieved from the Ghana Military base in Accra.
The Traditional Council performed tradtional rites, (cutting the throat of a cow and sprinkled the blood on the land) to signify ownership, thank the gods as well and seek their support for development projects that would be undertaken on the land.
The 114 acres of land forms part of a 350 acres of land, which the traditional council started to reclaim from the Military some years ago.
The Government in a bid to address the matter between the traditional council and the Military, constituted a subcommittee that ruled that 114 acres of the land be released to the Council.
The remaining 236 acres were retained by the Military for development purposes.
Nii Adjei Koofeh IV, La Shikiteli, (Kingmaker) addressing the press after the ceremony, said the land was given to the colonial government by the Council in the 1940s.
He said they had acquired the land for the construction of an anti-armorial aerodrome extension for the military base in Accra.
The La Shikiteli said, however, the land had not been utilised fully for the purpose to which it was acquired by the Government, but rather some parts of it were being encroached on by some private individuals and members of the military for their personal projects.
He added that this informed their decision to commence reclamation of the land, since the occupiers neglected its acquisition.
Nii Koofeh indicated that the Council would service the retrieved land and use it for commercial and development projects for the benefits of La residents.
‘We have had bad experiences with the management of lands in the past, so, we are going to manage it well for the benefit of us all,’ he added.
Mr Jeffery Tetteh, a member of the Coalition of Associations in La, who were agitators for the return of the lands, said he wished the entire 350 acres of land were given to the Council.
He added that they would closely monitor the use of the remaining 236 acres of lands in the care of the military to ensure that they used them for national projects and not for their members’ personal use.
Source: Ghana News Agency
