The Lands and Forestry Committee of Parliament has requested the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to produce the terms and conditions of the contract that the Chief Director Professor Patrick Agbesinyale said it has been awarded to a land guard to protect state lands.
A member of the committee who is also the Member of Parliament for Tamale North Alhassan Suhuyini said that the Chief Director of the Ministry revealed to the committee in an engagement that a land guard has been contracted to protect state lands.
Speaking to journalists in Parliament on Monday, July 17, Suhuyini raised concerns against the deal after indicating that the activities of land guards have been outlawed in Ghana therefore the state should not be the one to violate laws that are passed.
“In our engagement, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources the Chief Director revealed, shockingly, that the Ministry has resorted to engaging a land guard to retrieve and protect government lands.
“Mind you, these are lands that are held on behalf of the people of Ghana and vested in the President to protect it. I am sure that the framers of the Constitution are aware that the president is the Commander-In-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces and he is seized with the capacity to ensure that these lands are protected for our common use, that is why the lands are vested in the president, and the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources is the Ministry tasked with the responsibility of overseeing these lands.
“So for the Ministry to tell us the lack of capacity of the state to protect these lands that are put in trust but to resort to the services of people whose activities have been outlawed for the protection of these lands came to us as a surprise.
“We have therefore demanded from the Ministry the terms and conditions of that unholy relationship between the Ministry and this land guard or his institution. We cannot pass laws that we do not intend to keep.”
He added “The other shocking part of this revelation was that, according to the Chief Director, it is not only the Ministry that contracted the services of this land guard but also the Ghana Armed Forces and the Police depend on the services of this land guard to protect lands that are under their care.
“If the Ghana Armed Forces and the Police cannot protect their own lands and have to resort to the use of land guards what is the fate of the common Ghanaian who wants to acquire lands and if faced with the challenge of land guards?
“What was again scandalous was the revelation by Chief Director that this person that is engaged actually has a set-up that the state cannot compete with.”