*Secretly Offered Them Land In Their Own Backyard*

What otherwise would have passed a harmless gift, turned out to be ‘a cup of poison’ served on two highly influential chiefs, the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, and the Ga Mantse, Nii Tachie Tawiah II, which ‘killed’ their spirit in taking a moral stance against the pillage of the state lands in Accra and Kumasi.

Who would have imagined that the Asantehene and the Ga Mantse with vast tracts of land at their disposal would be receiving a mere two plots of land in their own backyards from fixed-term politicians based in Accra?

But both the Asantehene and the disputed Ga Mantse were morally corrupted, hence their legendary silence on the plunder of such a vital national resource in the face massive agitations, particularly in the case of the Ga Dangbe people.

Also discovered in the wanton pillage of state land was a carefully crafted plot to corrupt key institutions and personalities who would have stood on a platform of morality to condemn the action and save the lands for future generations.

Also at play were huge ethnic considerations, directly or indirectly, in the sharing of the state lands. For instance, the Denyame-Kumasi lands went solely to prominent Ashantis, most of who lived in Accra, and were busily scavenging the Accra lands originally owned by the Gas.

While the Asantehene got his land at the plush Denyame suburb of Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital, the Ga Mantse had secretly grabbed part of state plots in Accra, at the blindside of his subjects who had several times hit the street staging demonstrations against what they said was the stealing of their lands.

It was detected that the allocations to the two personalities were not made in their capacities as tribal leaders, but rather in their private capacities, hence the noticeable use of their private names as opposed to the stool names they are currently bearing.

Whilst the Asantehene had the Denyame-Kumasi land captured in his private name, Barima Kwaku Dua, his counterpart, the Ga Mantse, whose private name is Dr. Joe Blankson, was captured in the report of the three-member committee set up by the National Security Coordinator, Lt.-Col. Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, to probe the acquisition of the state land.

The committee which has since submitted its report and identified some illegalities in the acquisitions, was made up of Dr. Lennox Kwame Agbosu, Mr. Richard Dornu Nartey and Mr. John Opoku,

It’s not yet clear whether the Ga Mantse applied for a piece of a land he is supposed to have huge and domineering control over, or was also given him as gift as in the case of the Asantehene.

The two, The Herald discovered, were the only most powerful traditional rulers in the midst of the privileged senior security officers, media owners, parliamentarians and their leadership, ministers of state, judges and people at the presidency who got the state lands when Mr. Kufuor, as president.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has told officials of the Lands Commission that he never requested for any plot and as such did not pay any amount for the Denyame-Kumasi, worth over ¢1 Billion, and for that matter he is ready to give back the land to be used for public interest purposes.

It is not clear whether Nii Tackie Tawiah II will relinquish the s land he got to the state or will also resort to legal action just as some ministers and cronies of the Kufuor Administration are on the way to court over government’s attempt to retrieve the lands from them in the interest of the state.

Quite interesting is the case of Numo Gbelenfo, a traditional priest of Osu, who was among the beneficiaries of the 25-acre International Students’ Hostel land. He sold it to another person who started to put up a private a structure on it but was halted by the Mills administration. Days later, the land was reverted to its initial purpose of housing the new office complex for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

*Beneficiaries of the Denyame*-Kumasi Land include ex-President Kufuor, his ex-Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Okyere Mpian; two ex-Ashanti Regional Ministers, Sampson Kweku Boafo, and Emmanuel Owusu-Ansah; ex-Mayor of Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, Patricia Appiagye and the current MP for Manhyia, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh.

Also on the list are Mr. Anthony Oteng Gyasi, ex-President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), owner and Managing Director of Tropical Cable and Conductor Limited (TCCL); the MP for Bantama and ex-Deputy Minister for Water Resources, Work and Housing, Cecilia Dapaah, Nana Kwabena Oduro, Adwoa Birago, Prof. Yaw Safo Boafo, Charles Osei, K Owusu-Poku, Ernest Yaw Kwarteng, Kwame Agyarpong Boafo, Baffour Owusu Asare Amankwatia, Kwaku Frimpong, Dr. Joyce Dontwi, Anthony Gambrah, Akwasi Banahene, K Owusu-Akyaw, Nana Kwame Kyeretwie, Johnson Asiedu, Mr. and Mrs. Oduro-Kwarteng, Osei Assiebey, Kofi Dua-Adonteng, Stephen Mensah Opoku Agyemang, Charity Osei and Alhaji Hamidu Ibrahim Baryeh.

Among those who got the Accra lands were Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei, an ex-Finance Minister; Yaw Osafo Maafo, ex-Finance Minister; Kwame Osei-Prempeh, a former deputy Minister of Justice and Attorney- General; Shirley Ayorkor Botchway; a former deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey; former Minister of Tourism and Diaspora Relations, and now the national Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP); Mr. Dan B. Agyeman, office of the former President J.A. Kufuor; Joseph Henry Mensah, former Senior Minister; S.K. Boafo, former Minister of Culture and Chieftaincy Affairs and Prof. Nii Ashie Kotey, former Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission.

Others are Mr. Stanley Nii Agyiri-Blankson, former Mayor of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly; I.C. Quaye, former Greater Accra Regional Minister and current Member of Parliament for Ayawaso Central; Prof. Frimpong Boateng, former Chief Executive Officer of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital; Mr. Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong, ex-Inspector General of Police (IGP); Ms. Elizabeth Ohene, ex- Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education; Mr. Emmanuel Owusu-Ansah, a former Ashanti Regional Minister; Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby, former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the defunct Ghana@50Secretariat.

Others are Prof. Agyeman Badu Akosah; Dr. Joe Blankson; Mr. Sam Garbrah; Mr. Stephen Ayensu Ntim; an ex-First Vice National Chairman of the NPP, and many more others.

Some of the personalities fall within the two categories of beneficiaries.