Minister gives telcos, squatters ultimatum

Upper West Regional Minister Dr. Avea Nsoh has warned telecom operators that have erected masts around the Wa airstrip to immediately remove them or face sanctions.

According to him, the location of the masts is a stumbling block to opening up the region for commercial air travel.

“We had quite some resistance from the telecom operators, and I want to sound a caution to everybody that we are determined to improve and develop the region; and much as we encourage private sector businesses, we are not ready to give up something that the people of the region deserve.”

Dr. Nsoh added that with the aviation authority’s approval, some domestic carriers will soon be flying to the region -- and he does not want the telecom companies to be obstacles to the move.

“The region deserves the best; it deserves commercial flights and I will make sure it gets it. I am not going to relent in that regard.”

The Regional Minister also warned squatters around the airstrip to evacuate or have their structures demolished.

“I have made it clear throughout my interactions with people in the community that those people must go. Fortunately, not a single one of them has a permit so all of them are illegal structures; but they are all Ghanaians, so we have to give them that human face despite the fact that they have made some mistakes.”

The Lands Commission in the region recently stated its intent of embarking on a massive demolition of private properties around the premises of the Wa airstrip.

The exercise, it said, will be done in collaboration with the Ghana Airports Company and will see hundreds of houses that were built on the government-acquired land erased.

Mr. Yaw Achampong Amoah, the acting Regional Lands Officer, said the purpose of the exercise is to secure the land for government.

He said the 328 acres of land was properly acquired by government in 1958 with the intention of constructing an airport for the region in future.

The Lands Commission challenged the over-300 squatters to produce legal documents showing ownership of the land or have their houses demolished.

According to him, his outfit will draft a plan to help the squatters move gradually: “but beyond that human face will be the ‘monster face’, whereby anybody that stays there beyond that kind of engagement will have their structures taken down.”