Tensions flared in Okanta, a farming community in the Nsawam Adoagyiri Municipality of the Eastern Region, as residents clashed with armed men providing security for an excavator grading farmlands.
The residents allege that, a private developer, through dubious means, acquired their farmlands, destroyed acres of crops and has employed armed personnel to intimidate them.
Expressing their frustration, residents, both young and old, adorned with red headbands, gathered at their farmland, demanding documents from the heavily armed men wearing bulletproof vests with Ghana Police NFPU insignias.
The aggrieved residents in an interview with Citi News, called on the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Inspector General of Police to intervene.
The purported owner of the land stated, “I have been terrified today. The police have surrounded us; IGP should come, the IGP should come to our rescue in Okanta because they have taken my land over 100 acres.”
One resident explained, “They have sold the land; the woman’s sister sold the land to Koans, and they are grading it, so we have come to stop them. The woman who sold the land is not the rightful owner. The real owner is the one who we came here with today.”
Meanwhile, the CEO of Koans Building Solutions, Kofi Anokye who debunked the claims of the aggrieved residents said the issue is already in court.