Be wary of land grabbers

Chiefs and stool heads have been urged to be wary of multinational companies and their cohorts who seek to buy large tracts of their lands.

Nana Tidibo

Nana Tidibo Kowura Odamba II, Paramount Chief of Ntroboman Traditional Area in the Nwanta South District of the Volta Region, advised the chiefs and those responsible for the lands in their communities, stressing that they should opt for a partnership instead of the outright sale of the lands.

He made the remarks as part of in-service training for teachers in the Jasikan Diocese at Nsuta-Buem.

“When you sell your land, you have sold your treasure and mortgage the future of your children” he stated, adding that the best they should do is to lease the land instead of selling the land.

Nana Odamba said since “our land belongs to our ancestors, the living and our descendants”, there was no need selling it outright in a way that deprives future children access to the land for their use.

He shared the bitter experience how one multinational company “led by our own people” and with the promise to develop his paramountcy got 3750 hectares of land, paying a paltry sum of $5 per acre per year.

He commended the Africa Network for Justice (AFNJ) for helping them in trying to rectify the irregularities in the agreement signed for the land.

With his experienced, he advised the Chiefs and stool heads in the country to be cautious of people who might front for some multinational groups in need of land to buy. “Please do not sell your lands” he pleaded.

Likewise, Mr. Wisdom Koffi Adjawlo, Programme Director of the Youth Volunteer in Environment, Ghana, speaking on the land grabbing, noted that the issue poses a huge threat to eradicating hunger and ending poverty as well as meeting the Sustainable Development Goals.

H said there was a need for stakeholders to take action in tackling land grabbing and enrich their knowledge on the issue in order to address it.

“We need to cherish what we have,” he said, adding that we all have a role to play in our own small ways to preserve our land and ensure food sovereignty that would eventually help us end poverty.

Other speakers including the Mr. Lawrence Aziale, District Chief Executive for Jasikan, added their voices to calls for traditional leaders not to sell land, adding they could at best enter into a partnership with the investors who might want to buy their land.

Advocacy, key to ending land grabbing

Tactical advocacy and empowerment of people in communities were identified as vital to stop the creeping incidence of land grabbing in the country and secure community lands for domestic agriculture.

To this end, a number of Faith Based Groups in the country led by the Catholic Church, in collaboration with some communities affected by land grabbing, Traditional Leaders, Civil Society Organisations, as well as state agencies have mapped out ways to nip the occurrence of land grabbing activities in the bud.

These were part of outcomes of a two-day Annual Learning and Review Meeting (ALARM) on Land Grabbing in Ghana organised on the 19^th and 20^th of December at the National Catholic Secretariat (NCS) in Accra.

Very Rev. Fr. Lazarus Anondee, Secretary General of NCS, observed that there are severe consequences on the economic condition of communities when they lose their agricultural lands, adding that the church will not relent in its efforts to solidarise with communities threatened by land grabbers.

He echoed the concerns raised by the Catholic Bishops’ in their 2016 Communique issued in Tamale, on the subject, after Caritas Ghana’s survey on the situation in the country in 2016. 

With the biting effects of land grabbing on family life, including the stresses on marriages, Fr. Anondee reiterated the commitment of the Church to continue speaking for the affected families and communities for state actors to address the issue.

In the light of the theme of the meeting: Securing Community Lands For Domestic Agricultural Production and Food Security in the Context of SDGs 2, Mr. Samuel Zan Akologo, Executive Secretary of Caritas Ghana, noted that the dialogue was to demand policy attention for the issue which is critical in the economic and livelihood condition of the rural poor.

He noted that the dialogue also seeks to understand what avenues were available to land owners when their interest were under threat.

The Queen Mother of Bole Traditional, Kansawurdu Bukai, shared the unfairness in the acquisition of large tracts of lands at Babator, in the Northern Region by a multinational company.

Mr John Peter Amewu, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, in a speech read for him, noted that the plight of peasant farmers who have lost their lands and thrown into abject poverty as a result of land grabbing.

He also expressed displeasure about how illegal mining ‘galamsey’ activities, was affecting commercial agriculture, which posed great threat to food security and water bodies.

Commenting on the Policy dialogue, he said meeting which aimed at charting a path that would put community interest above parochial ones and help make progress in addressing the issue of land grabbing in the country.

Mr. Amewu stated Government’s readiness to tackle issues confronting land grabbing in Ghana in line with National Development Goals and the SDG’s.

He said the Ghana Enterprise Land Information System- (GLIS) is being developed, under the Land Administration Project II, to fully automate services rendered by the Lands Commission to the public.

Besides, the Minister mentioned Government’s intention to implement the Multilateral Mining Integrated Project (MMIP) targeting ‘galamsey’ areas, to among others things, roll-out pragmatic measures to provide alternative livelihoods, reclaim galamsey sites and restore arable lands to boost food security.

He noted that as part of initiatives to curb the practice of land grabbing in the country, the Lands Commission was also developing detailed guidelines on large scale land acquisition in the country.

Mr. Amewu, cited a recent World Bank Report on securing land for Africa, and said the report painted a distressing contrast between the availability of vast land resources and extreme levels of poverty. 

The report questioned why Africa with vast arable land yet has the highest productivity gap globally.

The Minister commended the critical Caritas Ghana was playing to ensure the efficient, equitable, judicious and sustainable use of land resources within Ghana and across Africa.

He said assured that Government would continue to collaborate with stakeholders to muse over a suitable solution to put lands to optimum use.

A Principal Land Administration Officer at the Land Commission, Dr. Stanislaus Adiaba, observed that most lands in Ghana were held by traditional leaders, who do not have adequate legal and technical know-how to deal with land grabbing.

He said stakeholders are working on policy harmonisation and reengineering to consolidate the merger the four land sector agencies, which includes the establishment of Client Service Access Unit (CSAU) in Accra, Koforidua, Sekondi, Tamale and Bolgatanga.

Among participants were Most RevS. Joseph Osei-Bonsu and Gabriel A.A. Mante, Bishops of Konongo Mampong and Jasikan Dioceses respectively.