Controversy Over Dominase Onion Market: Land Owners Break Silence, Hint To Eject Traders

Principal and accredited members of the Gomoa Dominase Anona Yoko family, the original owners of the vast land which has become the subject of raging controversy between the Gomoa Akyempim Traditional Council in the Central Region and Medium Dwellings Company Limited (MDCL), have decried the continuous silence of the government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo over the rumpus.

They have finally broken their silence after waiting on the government, Akyempim Traditional Council and Gomoa East District Assembly to eject the onion traders on their land which they legally sold to the real estate developing company, through a leasehold for a fixed term of ninety-nine (99) years to develop an ultra-modern One-District- One-affordable Housing project. 

According to them, they sold the 115-acre land to the company through a lease agreement between the company and Nana Buabeng VII, and Opanyin Kwaa Ahunaku (lessor) from the Anona Yoko family in Gomoa Dominase.

They argued that the Paramount Chief of Gomoa Akyempim Traditional Area, Obrifo Ahunako Ahor Ankobia II, and some foreign nationals in Gomoa Dominase have made a wrong move by giving 100 access out of the 115-acre land already sold and registered by the company to onion traders to ply their trade on.

They expressed disappointment in the chiefs and elders of the Akyempim Traditional Council led by Obrifo Ahunako Ahor Ankobia II for failing to tell the truth on the ownership of the land.

In a recent fact-finding mission by Soireenews to Gomoa Dominase, members of the family set the records straight and disabused the minds of people from what they described as a pack of lies churned out by the Akyempim Traditional Council led by Obrifo Ahunako Ahor Ankobia II during a recent news conference.

They pointed out that the family decided not to wade into the ranging dispute because the genuine buyer of the said stretch of land on the Kasoa-Winneba-Cape-Coast main road, was dealing with the issue.

"We want to state categorically that the Paramount Chief of Gomoa Akyempim Area, Obrifo Ahunako Ahor Ankobia II, and his followers should be blamed in case there is any bloody clash on the Gomoa Dominase land. So far as we are concerned, we the family members of Anona Yoko sold the land through a leasehold to Medium Dwellings Company Limited.”

According to them, they foresee an impending danger on the land allocated for the onion sellers.

The processes adopted by the chiefs and elders of Gomoa Akyempim Traditional Council including ‘invading’ the land in question to allocate 100 acres to onion sellers to trade was totally wrong, they asserted.

"So why would the assembly send its workers to an illegal place to collect revenue or tolls?

According to them, Obrifo Ahunako Ahor Ankobia II had created a new dispute over the land by making a declaration during the day of commissioning of the Gomoa Dominase onion traders market to the effect that elders of the various towns—Dominase, Ojobi and Kweikrom—claiming ownership of the land in question should bring to him documents that show that they are owners of the land.

They described the action of Obrifo Ahunako Ahor Ankobia II and his followers as criminals.

Furthermore, the members of the Anano Yoko family provided documentary proof to back their claim that the land indeed belonged to them.

This was contained in a judgement declared by the Land Appeal Court in Cape Coast dated Thursday, November 1, 1962, and presided over by His Lordship, Mr E.N.P Sowah, in favour of an elder of Dominase, Kwa Ahunako (plaintiff) against the respondents, Mr Kojoe Sarkwa of Kwei Krom and Mr S.K Aubim from Kwasi-Twi Krom who was substituted by Mr Kwasi Twi from Kwasi Twi Krom.

Indications were that the land in question had been sold to a company in the year July 21, 2006.

The peasant farmers whose properties were destroyed on the land by the workers of Gomoa Akyempim Traditional Council also took a swipe at the two institutions for completely not paying them compensation.

  Freeman Koryekpor Awlesu, Accra