Police must stop land guards menace now

....Real Estate Developer Charges

A Real Estate Developer, based in Tema, Mr Seth Sallah is charging the Ghana Police Service to put more effective measures in place to have the issues of land guard menace in the country especially developing areas totally wiped out to ensure stable development.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Setho Classic Engineering Company Limited, one of the fast growing Real Estate companies in the Tema region observed during an exclusive interview with this paper over the weekend that the continues existence of land guards in the country is a threat to the Real Estate industry therefore hampering the industry efforts of contributing it quota to help solve the huge housing deficit in the country.

Mr Sallah 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. He is of the opinion that land cases are not fought with land guards but with the relevant Land Management Offices, such as Land Title Registry, Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands (OASL) or take civil action at the law courts for redress.

‘’The endeavour to own a house does not only give the owner peace of mind but also serves as a worthy investment. The prices of houses, unlike those of other investments, appreciate and investors in the housing sector always have value for money but now putting up a house after acquiring a piece land has now become very risky due to the existence those criminal groups’’ , Mr Sallah lamented.. He noted that developers have always had it tough building on the land they acquire legally with the proper documents such land title certificates due to the phenomenon of many people laying claim to same parcel of land without any documentary prove or backing.

‘’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. Many people who have acquired pieces of land through their sweat have had to abandon them because of threats to their lives’’, the CEO of Setho Classic Engineering Company Limited furthered almost in tears.

The young CEO who owns over four thousand acres of land across the country tasked the security agencies especially the police to step up their game to help deal with the menace of land guards in our society.

He noted that although some months back, the Police Administration set up a land guard squad to deal with the canker of land guards which was 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 but he was unconvinced if those two units are living upto their expectations.

‘’We at the real Estate industry and Ghanaians in general are 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. But i think it is high time the security agencies, particularly the police, reactivated those two units and empowered the personnel to deal with this social canker’’, he underscored.

Mr Sallah said armed the land guards do not only use those arms to terrorise land owners and developers but also use same guns at night to undertake robbery and other violent criminal activities adding that is he believe that we must all stand up and support the police administration to fight against these miscreants in our society.

He also challenged chiefs and other custodians of land to desist from the multiple sale of land and adhere strictly to the laws of the land. He urges the Lands Commission and other land regulatory bodies sit up to do the right thing, as, more often than not, they provide the fertile ground for the land guard menace to thrive.

The CEO stated that if the police and the public fail to decisively deal with the land guard issue, these armed groups could destabilise the peace and stability of our state.

I have seen the video which has caught so much media attention; “police brutality of alleged land guards”. (Or should I rather say; alleged police brutality of alleged land guards). Like many others, the video made me a bit uncomfortable. To be fair, it wasn’t cool a treatment meted out to fellow “human beings”.

After watching the 2minutes 31 seconds video, all I could say (in ewe) was “eva glo for these land guards” meaning, “enough was enough for these land guards”!

You see, we don’t just have a history with land guards as a country. We have what in my view is a painful history and I believe the Ghana Police Service as an institution has the worse history. Do you remember the untimely death at Ablekuma of two Police constables; Owusu Sekyere (alias Kwaku Ninja) and his friend who I readily remember as “Taller”? They had been attached to the Striking Force Unit of the Ghana Police Service at the time; one cannot downplay the fact that they were assets to the institution. These men didn’t just die “untimely”, In fact, they were gruesomely murdered by these same land guards. So you see? The police as an institution would always (if not forever) have scores to settle with land guards.

Land guards are a nuisance! Somewhat more directly, I have experienced the illegal, wicked and sometimes inhuman activities of land guards. They always look fierce. I think it is worrying that after all these years we still have land guards terrorizing people they disagree with over land disputes.

One of my aunties some years ago purchased a land somewhere in Kasoa. She was harassed on a daily basis by not one, not two, not three, but numerous groups of land guards (they came in turns). She had gone through all the legal processes in acquiring a land and going through the same legal processes needed to build her own house. After part of her building, work equipments destroyed and some of her workers injured, she was left with no choice but to succumb to the pressures of these land guards by using more than half of her hard earned money for her project, to pay off these groups of land guards one after the other. This was her only way out to go back to continue work on her site in peace. These were huge monies involved.

In principle, I am in full support and I don’t care much how the police would do it, but like armed robbers, they (police) MUST get rid of these wicked individuals called land guards who operate with so much impunity in our communities. In fact, I have seen land guards with locally manufactured guns shot, injure and sometimes kill masons and other site workers with whom they disagree on land ownership.

I remember not long ago in this country when criminal activities became so rampant especially in Kumasi. Armed robbers operated with so much impunity that, the voice of the majority who were directly feeling the ripple of these illegal activities superseded that of human rights activists. In a meeting with security capos, the president (also commander in chief of armed forces) ordered the police to do all within their ability to completely clamp down or reduce the rate at which these criminals operated. The police upped their game and adopted strategies to curb the situation. They were asked no questions as to how they would do it or did it because we were all interested in eradicating crimes.

What is our take on land guards as a country? I think just like the armed robber menace; we should be bold and tag activities of Land guards as CRIMINAL! And deal with them equally as we deal with armed robbers.

I believe all the attention and directed comments hitting this hard at the police force from the electronic and social media is very much misdirected! No attention or rather no question has yet been asked and answered about how to curb the activities of land guards (As if it were legal).

Rather than addressing ways of dealing with these illegal, wicked, heartless and inhuman activities of land guards, we will spend all the “limited time” hitting hard at the institution legally mandated to halt such activities and rather give land guards the room to operate with all the bravado they display!

Finally, my honest advice goes to Ghana police service- I don’t know if you have one of your own in your books. If not, you should “apply for adoption” from the (so ambiguous) military clause; “by use of minimal force”. Please use “minimal force” to chase those crazy baled head land guards out of town while you still can. Let’s not wait for the situation to get to an alarming stage where the president would have to hold a meeting with security capos and order for “reinforcement”.