Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, has made his biggest comments yet on the looting of state lands which occurred in the regime of ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor, asking people, especially chiefs, to stay away from government-acquired lands in their communities.

“Those lands are meant for specific purposes, and must remain as such,” the Asantehene pointed out when he received the newly-posted Ashanti Regional Lands Officer, Nana Kwapong Aboa II, to his Manhyia Palace in Kumasi.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu said that any encroachment or attempt to forcibly take back such lands, was an infraction of the law. Asantehene’s scathing comments come after a publication in The Herald sometime ago, which revealed, the uttermost disrespect shown his internationally revered Golden Stool, how ex-President Kufuor himself and his cronies misappropriated a state property using his name.

Documents still in possession of The Herald reveal that ex-President Kufuor and other officials, who served in his administration, used the name of the Asantehene to misappropriate pricy state land at Danyame, a suburb of Kumasi, near the residence of the Ashanti Regional Minister, for their private use.

But in a statement signed on his behalf when the Land Officer went to Manhyia recently, Otumfuo said that if for any reasons they would need part of the lands, the right, and proper thing to do would be to dialogue with and seek approval from the appropriate authority.

The statement signed by Mr. G.B. Osei Antwi, Media Relations Officer at the palace, said that the Asantehene underscored the need for them to assist developers to secure title deeds for their property in line with the law.

“This was necessary to help prevent revenue losses to the state through non-payment of property rates. Otumfuo Osei Tutu II expressed discomfort with the growing numbers of buildings in the Kumasi Metropolis that were without titles,” it said.

Otumfuo encouraged the staff of the Lands Department to co-operate with the new head to ensure efficiency. In his response, Nana Aboa pledged hard work and diligence to improve land administration in the region.

Last year, The Herald reported how, shockingly, the Denyame lands were sold to Mr. Kufuor and his cronies for as low as ¢10 million per plot, and within days, some of them were busily selling them out at a whopping ¢950 million while others had priced theirs for as high as US$500,000, for sale.

This paper’s impeccable sources close to Otumfuo Osei Tutu, whose maiden name, Barima Kwaku Dua, is the first on the list of the beneficiaries of the land, has disclosed to officials of the Lands Commission that Otumfuo never requested for any land, yet he was allocated two plots, and till date, he has no idea who paid for the land on his behalf.

Insiders are of the opinion that the Asantehene’s name was used to give a cover of legitimacy to the illegal acquisition of the land, and to seal his mouth against talking about it. He is said to have braced himself up, ready to give back the land, anytime, for state use.

Ex-President Kufuor grabbed as many as six plots, while Otumfuo Osei Tutu was given a paltry two plots.

Apart from ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor, other prominent officials on the list are ex-Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Okyere Mpianim; two ex-Ashanti Regional Ministers, Sampson Kweku Boafo, and Emmanuel Owusu-Ansah; ex-Mayor of Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, Patricia Appiagye and the current MP for Manhyia, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh.

Insiders disclosed that strict instructions had come from The Castle during the Kufuor Presidency, through the Ashanti Regional Co-ordinating Council to the Ashanti Regional office of the Lands Commission that the land near the famous City Hotel, should be demarcated, and within days, it was done and allocated to prominent state officials and NPP apparatchiks at very ridiculous prices.

Prior to the ridiculous sale which started somewhere in 2004 and lasted till 2008, the smallest plot at Danyame-Kumasi, was pegged at ¢200 million. Even the land in question was not meant for sale at the time. However, the Kufuor-led administration forcibly had it put on sale under a scheme titled Kumasi Re-Development Scheme, and got sold to its officials with Ashanti descent.

Also on the list are Mr. Anthony Oteng-Gyasi, ex-President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), and Managing Director of Tropical Cable and Conductor Limited (TCCL); the MP for Bantama and ex-Deputy Minister for Water Resources, Work and Housing, Cecilia Dapaah.

Others include Nana Kwabena Oduro, Adwoa Birago, Prof. Yaw Safo Boafo, Charles Osei, K Owusu-Poku, Ernest Yaw Kwarteng, Kwame Agyarpong Boafo, Baffour Owusu Asare Amankwatia, Kwaku Frimpong, Dr. Joyce Dontwi, Anthony Gambrah, Akwasi Banahene, K Owusu-Akyaw, Nana Kwame Kyeretwie, Johnson Asiedu, Mr. and Mrs. Oduro-Kwarteng, Osei Assiebey, Kofi Dua-Adonteng, Stephen Mensah Opoku Agyemang, Charity Osei and Alhaji Hamidu Ibrahim Baryeh.

Four officials of the Lands Commission also took part in the pillage. They are the ex-Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission in Accra, Alhaji Hamidu Ibrahim Baryeh; Mr. Owusu-Poku and Yaw Kwarteng Ashanti Regional Lands Officer and deputy, respectively and the ex-Ashanti Regional Lands Commission Chairman, Mr. Kwame Boafo, said to be a brother of Mr. S.K. Boafo, the ex- Ashanti Regional Minister .

While the chiefs and people of Ga-Dangbe were screaming, and accusing officials of the Kufuor-led regime of looting their lands, their counterparts in the Ashanti Region were not being spared either.

Another interesting thing about the allocation is that some of the beneficiaries of the lands had also benefited from the juicy lands allotted in Accra as well.

For instance, ex-Minister for Ashanti Region, S.K. Boafo, has his name captured at the Lands Commission as a beneficiary of some costly lands in Accra, whilst Cecilia Dapaah is also a beneficiary of a plot at Cantonments, located a few meters away from the Togo Embassy.

There has not been any clear cut policy from the Mills administration on these stolen state lands, although the National Democratic Congress (NDC) led by the then candidate John Atta Mills effectively campaigned on the issue of stolen state lands. But The Herald has learnt that the Land Commission in Accra, chaired by Nana Adjei Ampofo, is in discussions to take back the land from the personalities.

It intends to re-evaluate them for those who have already developed theirs to enable them to pay the right price.