School land encroached upon

19-09-09

More than half of the land earmarked for the construction of the new site of the Christian Methodist Senior High School at Aplaku in the Ga South Municipality of the Greater Accra Region has been encroached upon.
Out of the 246 acres earmarked for the school’s project, only 80 acres is left, and that is also currently being encroached upon.
This came to light when the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Samuel Bannerman-Mensah, and some officials of the GES paid a visit to the school yesterday.
The school authorities have, therefore, called on the Ministry of Education and the GES to expedite action to reclaim the lands encroached upon and stop developments being undertaken on the land.
At the school’s site, it was realised that private developers had put up buildings right behind the administration block and between the girls’ dormitory which was more than 100 metres away. Along the route were many buildings which were at various stages of completion.
Workers were also seen busily working on some structures at the time of the visit. One of the workers who gave his name as R.K. Wiafe, said he was not the owner of the building but executing the work for the owner who was abroad.
Briefing the Director-General and his team, the Chairman of the parent-teacher association (PTA), Mr Henry D.L. Yartey, said the land was acquired through Executive Instrument (29) of 1976 by the government for the GES and to be used as the new site for the school and the Kaneshie Secondary Technical School (KATECO).
He said shortly after the acquisition of the land, the chief of the area died, and since then, there had been conflicts there, thereby making it impossible for the government to pay compensation.
“Money could not be paid to any of the contesting parties since it was not sure who the real chief was. As a result of that the indiscriminate sale of land by other personalities and landguards began”, he said, and indicated that none of the encroachers had the proper documentation on the land.
Mr Yartey underscored the need for immediate action to be taken by the government to protect the land since it would be too late if that did not happen.
Landguards, he said, who were engaged in the sale of the land tormented the authorities of the school if they tried to stop them from their illegal activities.
Mr Yartey said apart from the construction of an administration block, classrooms, dormitories, dining hall, library, laboratory and a chapel, there were plans for the construction of pre-school and a junior high school to feed the senior high school.
The school presently, he said, did not have a playing field as a result of the encroachment.
Mr Bannerman-Mensah, for his part said, “we would go back and re-strategise by getting the sector minister informed”.
He was surprised at the turn of events and said, “action would be taken immediately to stop the new developers from completing their structures.
Later in a message to the students, he assured them of addressing the problem being faced in the school, especially with regard to land encroachment, adding that they should take advantage of the existing facilities to develop themselves.
The headmaster of the school, Mr Alfred Tackie, said the school had since the commencement of the 2009/2010 academic year been relocated from Asylum Down in Accra to Aplaku in the Ga South Municipality.
He said the girls dormitory had now been converted into classrooms for the current Form 2 and 3 students, and hinted that more than 450 students were expected to be admitted this year.
A teacher of the school, Mr Hypolite Luuse, welcomed the relocation of the school from Accra, saying that the perennial flooding of the school had been a source of worry to both students and staff.
The GES Director-General was accompanied by the Financial Controller of the GES, Mr Charles Otoo; the Greater Accra Regional Director of Education, Mrs Ernestina Afosah-Anim; the Ga South Municipal Director of Education, Mrs Florence Addo; the Accra Metropolitan Director of Education, Nii Okaidja Dinsey, and the acting board chairman of the school, Nana Appeadu Ammoanor I.