Land Guards Menace Is Collapsing Real Estate Industry

... Seth Kwame Sallah reveals
... As He Calls on State agencies to deal with the Canker

The acute accommodation challenge in most parts of the country has led to many Ghanaians seeking to acquire land from estate companies to build their own houses but a real estate developer, Mr Seth Kwame Sallah thinks this may soon be a thing of the past if the land guards menace is properly combated by state institutions responsible.

He said the endeavour to own a house does not only give the owner peace of mind but also serves as a worthy investment furthering that the prices of houses, unlike those of other investments, appreciate and investors in the housing sector always have value for money.

The Chief Executive Officer of Setho Classic Engineering Company Limited noted in an exclusive interview with this paper that developers have always had it tough building on the land they acquire due to the phenomenon of many people laying claim to one parcel of land.

“Even when developers have title to the land, it becomes increasingly difficult to build, as a result of the menace of land guards, who not only intimidate developers but also attack them with machetes, guns and other offensive weapons”, he told the paper in his office recently.

He observed that many people who have acquired pieces of land through their sweat have had to abandon them because of threats to their lives. This, the young entrepreneur is worried if care is not taking could end the real estate industry in the country and would increase the housing deficit currently facing the country.

Mr. Sallah continued that real estate companies find it difficult to build because of the incidence of land guards and challenged security agencies to step up their game to help deal with the menace of land guards in our society.

The CEO said such act of lawlessness and indiscipline on the part of individuals who under the guise of protecting their lands without documentary prove or backing, mobilise young men and resource them with all kinds of offensive weapons to cause mayhem and terrorise innocent people immensely undermines law and order and must be dealt with accordingly by the police.

“The Police Administration set up a land guard squad to deal with the canker of land guards. It followed up with the establishment of the Property Fraud Unit at the Criminal Investigations Department to help address the problem of multiple sale of land and fraudulent land documentation”, He lamented.

However, he noted that Ghanaians are yet to see the benefits of these two units, as the land guards still operate with relative ease and possibly with the knowledge of some security personnel.

He further called on the security agencies, particularly the police, to reactivated those two units and empowered the personnel to deal with the social canker to help the real estate companies contribute their quota to reduce the housing deficit the country is currently facing.

“It has been said that when we arm the land guards, they use those arms at night to undertake robbery and other violent criminal activities. That is why we believe that we must all stand up against these miscreants”, he underscored.