A security expert, David Agbey, has welcomed the move by government for takeover of the disputed parcel of land between the Alavanyo and Nkonya in the Volta Region.

According to him, the move is the first step towards brokering peace between the two communities.

Although government has announced that the land will be used by the military for training, Mr Agbee encouraged government to use a portion of the land for an economic activity like agriculture to help improve the livelihoods of the people in both communities.

He told Valentina Ofori-Afriyie on 505 on Class91.3FM on Thursday, 8 June: “If military men are going to train there, it’s a good step in the right direction, but then I think that if we have other avenues of using a portion of the land for a certain economic activity too, it will also improve the livelihood of the people. We are looking at economic activity that will benefit the people. Although the security going there to train is also going to bring peace, I think that it is not entirely going to also benefit the community. So there should be more of engagements between the community and the government so that at least the community will also get a reasonable economic activity on their land.

“We are told government wants to embark on full-scale agriculture, that is Planting for Food and Jobs. So if government will take certain portion of the land for economic activity like commercial farming that the ordinary people will be able to farm and be able to enhance their economic livelihood, I think that it will be a very good step in the right direction.”

The two communities have been at loggerheads for close to a century over a parcel of land, with many innocent people killed and property destroyed.

This situation has led to some legislators pushing for government to take over that parcel of land as a way of ending the age-old feud.