Nearly 200 acres of land belonging to the CSIR at Frafraha in the Adentan Municipality of the Greater Accra Region has been taken over by encroachers.
The encroached land is part of the 1,000 acres allocated to the institute more than 50 years ago.
When the Ghanaian Times visited the site, fence walls of the institute had been broken down, allowing the developers access to construct over 120 properties on the encroached land within the past three months.
They also have a stand by Backhoe tractor machinery to readily demarcate any portion of land that individuals are ready to buy at the full glare of the institute, and were ready to provide armed land guards to protect the properties.
At the time of filing this report, some of the developers were on site measuring portions of the land for buyers, while masons were busily putting up buildings on portions already bought or sold.
The already sold portions are protected by young men on motorcycles who allegedly appeared in black T-shirts over black trousers.
According to staff of the institute, they would soon vacate the premises if the government did not act fast to drive away the land guards from their premises.
They indicated that they would not sit down for private individuals to sell their land before crying to government for assistance, adding “we would not allow impunity to destroy all what we have toiled for over the years,” they added.
The Director-General of CSIR, Prof. Paul Bosu who led 13 Directors of the CSIR to the site indicated they had to truncate their quarterly meeting to have a first-hand knowledge of the situation on the ground, and expressed regret that private individuals would have the audacity to encroach on a government land without due regard to its implications.
Such impunity he stated must not be allowed to continue since the lands belong to the government and warned individuals to keep away from the area.
Prof.Bosu expressed regret that the developers had the gut to invade a private property, overpower the few security guards on duty and demarcate the over 200 acres among themselves to as far as the frontage of the administration block.
He said the land was still under the control of the government and urged the workers to go about their duties normally, while efforts were being made to deal with the encroachers.
The Director-General advised those who had already bought parcels of the land to go back for their money because the Animal Research Land was not for sale.
The Director of ARI, Dr Ebenezer Ansah, said the institute had started court proceedings to have the encroachers evicted from their land and are working with the Adentan Municipal Assembly and the Adentan-Abokobi Divisional Police Command to enforce their right of ownership.
A police source at the Adentan-Abokobi Divisional Police Command who pleaded anonymity told the Ghanaian Times that security assessment of the unfortunate situation had been completed and only waiting on the CSIR to complete the necessary legal processes to enable them take their next line of action.
FROM LAWRENCE VOMAFA-AKPALU
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