The Tema Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP), Daniel Kwame Afriyie, together with the Land Commission have finally resolved a long standing land dispute at Atadeka-Kuberkro in the Kpone-Katamnso district in the Greater Accra Region.
The deadly dispute over the land has been lingering on for several years in the area which had always led to bloody clashes between the factions claiming ownership of the land under different Regional Police Commanders in the region without any solution.
The two factions claiming ownership of the controversial land are the Odaitse-We Royal Mantse-Man Family, who are chiefs or owners of the Kuberkro Township and its surrounding and a company named Setho Classic Engineering Company limited also claiming to have acquired the said land from the Kpone Traditional Council through the Apolonia Stool.
But the Odaitse-We Royal Mantse-Man Family has always stated that, its land boundary falls outside the Kpone Traditional Council and accused the Company of using rogue tactics of trying to steal their land from them and people they had already leased portions of the land to.
The resistance from the Royal Family and people who acquired portions of the land from the Family for development against the Company owned by one Seth Kwame Sallah has always led to violence clashes at the township leaving many with life threatening injuries.
The Royal Family had in the past, organized several demonstrations against the Company accusing it of using dangerous land guards to maim innocent developers in the area. They had also accused the police administration of doing nothing to resolve the long standing dispute over the land.
But when Daniel Kwame Afriyie (DCOP) took over as the Regional Commander, he assured the people of the region that disputes over land that had become a major source of conflict in the area and undermining development would have no oxygen to breath under his watch.
The commander said it was important for chiefs to use their time-tested traditional conflict resolution mechanisms to end all unresolved conflicts to pave way for continued development.
Upon assumption of office, one of the challenges he said, he had identified, was the issue of land disputes and said although some efforts had been made by previous commanders to resolve some age-old land disputes, he will leave no stone unturned to make sure most of those disputes were resolved to give peace a chance in the region.
Staying true to his words, when there were renewed clashes over the ownership of the disputed land, he quickly moved in with his men and asked both factions to stay clear off the land so that his office would investigate and bring finality to the aged dispute.
He, therefore, invited both factions including representatives from the Lands Commission and demanded from the two factions, Mr Adu King who had acquired the land from the Odaitse-We Royal Mantse-Man Family and Setho Classic which also claimed to have acquired same land from Kpone Traditional Council to submit their documents.
This, he said, was to enable the Lands Commission to pick the land and establish the boundary to ascertain whether it falls within the Kpone Traditional Council land title or the Odaitse-We Royal Mantse-Man’s title in order to resolve the problem.
The factions agreed to his request and presented their documents and the Lands Commission together with police and the parties involved carried out the exercise sometime last month.
Finally, residents of the township and developers were thrown into jubilation when the Lands Commission’s report on the boundary was read to both parties in the Regional Commander’s office indicating that the disputed land doesn’t fall within the Kpone Traditional Council.
The report further indicated that land falls within the Odaitse-We Royal Mantse-Man Family land which measure 1686.3 acres making Mr. Adu King who acquired his land from the Family a legal owner and not Setho Classic.
This bold decision of the Regional Police Commander has finally brought to rest, the dispute over the said land for many years though some of the issues are still pending in law courts.
The Regional Commander, therefore, cautioned against the illegal use of land guards stating that he had already declared war on land guards whose activities create insecurity in the area and will not countenance such activities.
According to him, the land guards who are often hired by dealers in real estate to terrorize land owners are putting the lives of developers in danger thereby causing insecurity in the area. And will not be accepted under his watch.