Chiefs in the Western Region have been advised to enter into partnerships with investors using their lands as tools instead of selling them off outright.
The President of the Western Regional House of Chiefs, Awulae Attibrukusu, who made the call, said by selling large tracts of land out to the people who claimed to be investors, they were mortgaging the future of generations unborn.
He said the regional house of chiefs would soon come up with measures to take back lands that some chiefs had sold out.
Some people parading as investors are taking advantage of the oil find at Cape Three Points in the Western Region to acquire large tracts of land for their businesses.
“Instead of land, ask them for partnerships with the land as your tool but do not sell it to them for immediate gain.”
He was speaking at his office when the Western Regional Minister called to introduce himself and to discuss the way forward for the region.
Awulae Attibrukusu, who is also the Omanhene of Lower Axim, said most of the people bought hundreds of acres and claimed they were going to build hotels and other hospitality businesses on them.
“But if I may ask, how many plots do the Golden Tulip, La Palm Royal Beach hotels and other huge facilities in Accra occupy for one person to acquire more than 500 acres of land; that is mind boggling and unheard off,” he said.
He said the land did not belong to chiefs and that as traditional rulers they held the resource in trust for the people and advised them to manage the resources for the benefit of generations unborn.
“As required by the laws of the country all mineral resources on land, under the earth, at sea and in the air are vested in the President of the Republic of Ghana in trust for the people and so it is in the case of lands within the jurisdiction of any chief to hold it in trust for their subjects,” he said.
Awulae Attibrukusu said it was very unfair for the future of generations unborn to be morgaged up to people who were not from the region.
“If that happens, we are not leaving any legacy for our children but papers that empowered investors to control our wealth,” he said.
He said the sad aspect of the issue was that the land was not demarcated and the chiefs who engaged in this unjustifiable sale did not have the technical knowledge to measure as the buyers themselves employed the services of private surveyors to demarcate the boundaries they wanted.
The regional house of chiefs president named Princes Town, Egyambra, Aketekyi and some other parts of the region as the worse culprits and reminded them that the future was more important than the present.
“What they fail to know is that the land is even enough to form partnerships with companies [and] individuals that would be expressing interest in investing in their areas. It is a sad development that some chiefs just give out their future to people who were not even from the region,” he stressed.
On his part the Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aiddoo, said it was about time the people of the Western Region took interest in investing in the various sectors of the local economy.
He said the region had gold, cocoa, timber, bauxite, and recently oil, among others resources, but asked how many of the indigenous people were into the production of a crop like cocoa.
He said it was very important that the indigenous people also developed interest in investing in some of these areas.
“It is about time we refocus and see how best to chart the path of development as one people to position the region as one which provides most of the country’s natural resources,” he said.
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