The attention of the Odumase, Acquah and Asamani Families has been drawn to a publication in the Daily Graphic, dated Thursday, May 31, 2012 on the above subject and we kindly request your permission to set the records straight.
In the said publication, Agu Resources Ghana Limited, a local company, was reported to have begun construction of 10,000 affordable housing units at Odumase/Nsakina in the Amasaman District of the Greater Accra Region for low to middle-income Ghanaians.
The said publication also made mention of Mr. Joe Addo-Yobo, the Chief Executive Officer of Adicopa Farms, commending Agu Resources for the sense of commitment to work that it had exhibited since the acquisition of the land.
We wish to inform the General public that, the said land on which the project is being implemented was not earmarked for an estate project as the world is being made to believe.
The land was leased to Adicopa Farms by the late Nii Achia Quarshie, Head of the Odumase, Acquah and Asamani Families SOLELY FOR FARMING PURPOSES (specifically pineapple farming) on September 11, 1987.
Ever since the lease agreement was effected, Adicopa Farms failed to undertake farming activities on the land until the families’ attention was drawn to sand winning activities on the same parcel of land some time ago. When Mr. Joe Addo-Yobo’s attention was drawn to what was going on at the site, he denied involvement in the activities and rather claimed some other persons were behind the action.
However, since he refused to call the said persons to order, our families had a hunch that he knew something about it, since as the saying goes, ‘silence means consent’.
Since then, Adicop had not planted a single crop on the land and had undertaken any other activities until this publication that took the families by great surprise.
We would like to state clearly that,
-Adicop Farms has never signed any memo with the family, changing the use of the land from farming to estate development.
-There is no information available to the families to the effect that the land had been sublet to Agu Resources Ghana Limited, giving the latter the authority to undertake this affordable housing project.
-The unnatural death of Nii Achia Quarshie on April 14, 2000 (supported by autopsy report), coupled with recent developments surrounding the use of the land, raises suspicion of some orchestrations by some elements who have ulterior motives, so far as ownership of the land is concerned.
-As per a search at the Lands Commission No. O/S5261/11 signed by one Opoku Boateng Anthony for the Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission, the land was leased to Adicop Farms Ltd by Nii Achia Quarshie, so any activity that is not supported by a document from the original owners of the land, contrary to the lease agreement is ILLEGAL.
Therefore, any entity that acts contrary to the agreement entered into on the land is doing so at its own risk.
We shall use all legally permissible means to ensure that the families are not in any way shortchanged or taken advantage of.
Thank you
Signed
NII AMARDEY ASAMANI
MEMBER OF THE ODUMASI, ACQUAH AND ASAMANI FAMILIES