General News of Thursday, 28 June 2012

Source: The Herald

"Ga Mantse" Raises Private Army

The Minister for the Interior has been asked by the Nii Tackie Obli family in Accra to intervene in a land dispute between the family and one of the claimants to the Ga Stool.

Mr. William K Aboa, Minister for the Interior, was written to after efforts by the family to reclaim what rightfully belongs to them failed.

The letter said that one Mr. Ayittey Canada, one of the many claimants to the Ga Stool, in his quest to claim the 210 acres of land at Kuntunse Satellite area, had recruited an army of over 100 land guards who wield all manner of deadly weapons, including AK-47 assault rifles, pump action guns and pistols just to protect what did not belong to him.

The family in the letter claimed that these landguards were stationed on the land to give a 24-hour protection to both the land and Ayittey Canada.

The letter was copied to the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo, the Director of Bureau of National Investigation (BNI), the National Security Coordinator, Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, and the Inspector General of Police (IGP).

The family through its solicitors Nkrabeah and Associates, in a letter to the Minister captioned, “Most Urgent Cry for Protection” accused a man variously called as Ayittey Canada, Henry Ayittey, of having taken a vast land which had been in the family’s name over centuries.

Ayittey Canada, also called Ayittey Morovia, tried unsuccessfully to ascend the Ga Paramountcy as King Tackie Obli II. The letter dated May 21, 2012, and intercepted by The Herald also accused the District Commander of the Amasaman Police.

It said that an attempt by the family elders of Nii Tackie Obli to seek police assistance proved futile as the Amasaman Police Commander argued that due to the size of land, they were unable to provide adequate security protection.

The family has therefore been left to their fate as the ‘wannabi’ Ga chief says he is being backed by one KKD, also a land guard, who openly boasted that he had the National Security apparatus at “the back of his pocket”.

The family have been fiercely warned not to step foot onto the land, the letter said, adding “if they do, it would be at their own peril”.

The family is, therefore, calling on the Minister and the appropriate security authorities to come to their aid to claim what rightfully belongs to them.