THE GaDangme Council has protested against the acquisition of 20, 000 acres of land by the government for a low-cost housing project in parts of the Ga District, saying ?it as an abuse of the law?.

?The government is fully aware that the GaDangme people are disqualified by law from benefiting in any way from estate houses built on their own land, while under Section 5 of the Administration of Lands Act 1962, a particular community in Ghana is required by law to be given at least 10 per cent of plots in all government lay-outs on lands acquired in their area for public purposes,? it said.

In a statement, the council mentioned the proposal made last month by the Minister of Lands and Forestry to Cabinet for consideration that all Stool Lands vested in the state should be returned to the original owners, and his earlier call for the abolition of the State Lands Regulations and the Administration of Lands Regulations.

It also referred to the statement reportedly made by the Director of the Policy Planning and Evaluation Unit of the Ministry of Works and Housing, Dr Thomas Fokuo Agyapong, that the government has acquired 20,000 acres of land at Oyarifa, Brekesu, Ashongman, Kuntunse and Odumase, near Amasaman, for a low-cost housing project, and said that ?the council regards this latter statement as a continuation of the policies of successive governments, which resulted in the impoverishment of the GaDangme people?.

It complained that large tracts of land acquired in the past for public purposes have been diverted for private uses, adding that ?the beneficiaries have always been politicians, public officers and their collaborators.? It also alleged that successive governments have abandoned low-costs housing projects in Tema, Adenta, Redco (Madina), Teshie and Nungua, and diverted the lands for other purposes or allowed free encroachment by private developers to the detriment of the GaDangme people.

As at now, it said, compensation for the acquisition of lands in respect of the Asutsuare Sugar Plantation, Dawhenya Irrigation Project, the Korle Lagoon and the Teshie-Nungua Estate, Dansoman Estate, Adenta Housing Project and the Redco Housing Project remains unpaid.

Against this background, the statement said that the government does not have any moral authority to acquire any more of GaDangme lands for housing or any other projects.

?We also call for the repeal of Executive Instrument Number 108 of 1968, which vested all Accra-Tema Stool Lands in the state because stool lands in the Northern, Upper West and Upper East Regions, hitherto vested in the state, have been returned to the respective stools and skins by Article 257 (3) and (4) of the Constitution?, the statement said.

It also said that the recent call by the Minister of Lands and Forestry for the abolition of the State Lands Regulations and the Administration of Lands Regulation, to enable the government to put lands on the open market for rental or capital value is a clear betrayal of the publicly announced intentions of the government to return stool lands to their original owners.

?Any attempt to put public lands on the open market for rental or capital value would be subversive of the rationale behind the compulsory acquisition of lands for public purposes?, the statement added.