Call Your Agric Minister to Order Over Land Sale – Haruna Tells Prez Akufo Addo

The Minority Leader in Ghana’s Parliament and Member of Parliament for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrissu, has called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to rein in his Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, for allegedly trying to hand over a prime located Government land into the hands of private developers.

According to him, aside the primness of the land which is located very close to the country’s national airport in Accra, it has very serious implications for national security which is of utmost public interest as well as the national interest.

The Minority Leader therefore made the call on the President “to call his friend to order” at a press conference in his office in Parliament on Wednesday, October 19, 2022, where he expressed his utmost disapproval for the move by the Minister.

He said, “My attention has been drawn to moves and initiatives by the Minister of Agriculture, working in cohort with the Lands Commission of Ghana to give away one of our land jewels on the Giffard Road, which use to house the Agric Mechanization Center where those tractors and combine harvesters are normally brought in and sold to farmers and persons associated with the activities of agriculture.

“That land is being parceled for redevelopment purposes to an entity or company known as AINOK Holdings Limited. Whatever it is, that land, as close as it is to our airport, which is a strategic National Security asset, I do not think that should go away into private hands for private development. Particularly when the Ministry of Agriculture and its agencies are struggling and paying rent elsewhere.”

He suggested that, if the proximity of the land to the national airport is no longer conducive for the original purpose for which the land was acquired, it should rather be diverted to other profitable public use, but not to turn it into private hands.

“Maybe if it is preserved for the state, preserved for the Military High Command, the Ghana Armed Forces. Just in front of it; by the side of it; adjacent to it is the Ghana Armed Forces and the Ghana Air Force, and the National Airport,” the Minority Leader said while bemoaning the wanton dissipation of compulsorily acquired lands only to turn them into private hands.

“To think that this land will suffer the wanton dissipation of compulsorily acquired state lands breaks my heart, and I think that President Nana Addo Dankwa must stop this. And he must stop the Ministry of Agriculture and if by reference, the agreement is so signed by the Minister, he should call his good friend that, that land should be preserved in our national security interest.”

Mr. Haruna Iddrisu further challenged the President to set up an investigation into the matter if he doubts what he has so far revealed.

“The President, if he has doubts as to what I am saying, he must commence a full-scale public investigation into the status of this land and the intentions behind the land and report same to the Ghanaian public,” he said.

Source: Clement Akoloh||parliamentnews360.com