Eastern Regional Minister Orders Kwaebibirem MCE To Resolve Land Dispute Between Ofoase Ayiribi Landowners And Akyemansa Assembly
The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr. Seth Kwame Acheampong was reported to have tasked the Municipal District Chief (MCE) of Kwaebibirem Municipal Assembly, Mr. Seth Antwi Boasiako to resolve the current land dispute between the farmers from the Toa family in the catchment area of the One-District-One-Hospital project in Ofoase Ayirebi and the Akyemansa District Assembly in the Eastern Region.
Freeman Koryekpor Awlesu Greater 
The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr. Seth Kwame Acheampong was reported to have tasked the Municipal District Chief (MCE) of Kwaebibirem Municipal Assembly, Mr. Seth Antwi Boasiako to resolve the current land dispute between the farmers from the Toa family in the catchment area of the One-District-One-Hospital project in Ofoase Ayirebi and the Akyemansa District Assembly in the Eastern Region.
The minister, according to the sources, was intervened in the issue after the residents of Ofoase Ayiribi living abroad have called him to plead with the minister to invite the two factions to table the issue for discussion to find a satisfactory solution to the impasse.
The sources indicated that the Ofoase Ayiribi residents living abroad noted that they have been monitoring a series of complaints in the report made from the affected farmers of the Toa family of Ofoase Ayirebi including the chief, Obrempong Adarkwah Dwamaenah II, and his elders of Bontodiase in Akyem Kotoku Traditional Area.
The people of Bontodiase are the original owners of the said land in question for which the family members of Toa have legally and genuinely secured the land for the farming activities.
The said land has become the subject of a raging controversy between the farmers of Toa family of Ofoase Ayiribi and Akyemansa District Assembly for which the affected farmers together with the original owners of the land secured a court junction which they are yet to be served the management of the Assembly to stop the assembly from developing the land for the Agenda 111 project.
However, since the Eastern Regional Minister thought otherwise that he cannot solve the matter himself, he tasked the Kwaebibirem MCE, Mr. Seth Antwi Boasiako to tackle the issue on his behalf and ensure the final settlement of the matter.
Speaking in an interview with Soireenews.com,
today, the Akyem Bontodiasehene, Obrempong Adarkwah Dwamaenah II noted that although the Minister has taken such a decision to resolve the matter, they didn't believe the Kwaebibirem MCE can solve the matter amicably.
He stated that they would not allow the Assembly to execute the project on the land without paying compensation packages to the farmers who are farming on their lands at Ofoase Ayirebi.
He pointed out that the members of the Bontodiase family through their legal counsel have already filed the case with the registrar of the Akim Oda High Court Land Division of the Judicial Service.
He stressed that they prayed the court to put a perpetual injunction on the work of the Assembly on the land until the final determination of the case by the Akyem Oda High Court.
He pointed out that the current action by the Assembly headed by Mr. Paul Asamoah who has represented the government in the area to order the contractors to destroy farmlands of members of the Toa family on Tuesday, February 15, 2022, to pave way for the construction of the project at Ofoase Ayiribi was unlawful, wicked and unacceptable hence their decision to take the Assembly to court to seek redress of the case.
The chief Bontodiase stated that the action of the Assembly to disobey their earlier advice offered to them also demonstrated the fact that the Assembly didn't respect elders of Bontodiase stool and that this has informed their decision to sue the Assembly.
According to him, they had already advised the Assembly to negotiate the payment terms with the farmers for their crop compensation before they made any attempt to move onto the land for the execution of the project.
"This is because we made the Assembly know that the said in question land was legally acquired by some farmers from the Toa family who are currently farming on the land for almost 60 years ago and they had genuinely paid annual royalties to the Bontodiase Stool," Akyem Bontodiasehene explained.
He stated that they couldn't fathom why the Assembly has ignored their advice and went ahead to take the law into their hands to destroy the farmlands of the farmers without paying compensation to them.
Some distraught farmers including a 90-year-old woman who identifies herself as Adwoa Kodie at Ofoase Ayirebi have expressed bitterness about the alleged annexation of their farmlands by the government for the Agenda 111 hospital projects.
According to the farmers, the government’s action has led to the destruction of their cocoa plantations, palm trees, yams, cocoyams, maize, cassava, banana, onions, and other farm produces without crops compensation which has deprived them.
The farmers claim the Chief Executive of Akyemansa District Assembly, Mr. Paul Asamoah, and the Member of Parliament for the area, Mr. Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah must pay compensation to the affected farmers.
They told journalists that they are not resisting any attempt by the government to establish a hospital in the community but they expect that some compensation is paid for the annexation of their farmlands and destruction of the produce.
But in an interview with this news outlet in a follow-up to the case, Obrempong Adarkwah Dwamaenah II accused District Chief Executive of Akyemansa District Assembly of doing what he described as complete unthinkable.
He pointed out that somewhere two years ago, the government through the Assembly had invited chiefs, queen mothers, and traditional office holders of Akyemansa District to a meeting and introduced to them the Agenda 111project and requested that they should allocate land for the project.
The chief stated that since the Bontodiase family of the Akyem Kotoku were the custodian owners of Akyemansa and Ofoase lands and they also were in dare need of the hospital, he ( Obrempong Adarkwah Dwamaenah II) and his elders with the support from the chief of Ofoase have allocated that portion of the land to the Assembly to construct the hospital.
He pointed out that after they have gone to measure the land to the Assembly for the project, they never charged the Assembly but the Assembly gave him GH¢ 50,000.
He explained that the amount of GH¢ 50, 000.00 given to him was meant to perform custom for the tool to the effect that the Assembly has accepted the land allocated for the project.
"I want to make it clear that the Assembly should not think that the money (GH¢ 50,000) given to him was the total charged for the purchase of the land in question for the project. If they think because of that they should be behaving this way by treating our farmers on the land unfairly, then we are warning them that we would not allow them to maltreat the farmers and we shall meet the Assembly in the law court," Obrempong Adarkwah Dwamaenah II vowed.
"We are saying that because we made the officials of the Assembly know that although we have doled out that portion of the land for the project, the Assembly would have to ensure that it sits down with the farmers to negotiate payment terms for their crops compensation.
He briefed the journalist on how the Assembly has decided to bypass him (the owner of the land) and tried its possible best to deal with the chief of Ofoase community who is not the custodian owner of the Akyemansa District land but he has caught the Assembly.
He said that Assembly wanted to deal with the chief of Ofoase to have its ways to cheat the farmers of their crop compensation since he was fighting for the good money to be paid as the crops compensation the affected farmers.
Aside from this development, the chief pointed out that they tabled the matter for discussion in the Akyemansa DISEC meeting and that the Assembly also agreed to negotiate payment for crop compensation and dully paid before doing something on the land.
He indicated that "I didn't hear anything from the Assembly again and interestingly this week Thursday, February 17, 2022, is one week that some workers from the Assembly came to me in my house to inform me that l should delegate some of my kinsmen and that the contractor has come so that they led the contractor to the location of the land to start work as customs demand.
He stated that "In this sense l become surprised and l asked the officials from the Assembly whether they had informed the farmers who had crops on the said land and the officials of the Assembly responded to me that they didn't the farmers.
"And l told them that in the recent DISEC compressing Ofoase Ayiribi Police District Commander, Chiefs, queen-mothers, religious leaders, DCE and many stakeholders, they came with an agreement with Assembly that it should pay the compensation to the farmers and l should be witness to the payment before the contractor would be allowed to work on the land so how comes that the Assembly had not paid the crop compensation due the farmers and you come here to inform me to go on the land to work."
And quickly l sent them back to go and have an emergency meeting with the farmers and today is one month that the Assembly invited the farmers to the meeting but the Assembly upon the report l got from my linguist didn't come to any tangible conclusion of the specific money that is going to pay the farmers as their crops compensation," Obrempong Adarkwah Dwamaenah explained.
The chief indicated "l was at home when l received a distress call from one of my elders that the workers of the Assembly have taken the machine to start clearing the farmlands and quickly l together with my elders rushed to the land and stopped the workers
"...but when we left the place to home the workers of the Assembly went back to clear the land and subsequently destroyed vast farmlands without even paying compensation to the farmers.'
The chief stated that they had reported the conduct of the Assembly headed by Mr. Paul Asamoah to the Eastern Regional Minister and the Minister assured to meet them on Tuesday, February 21, 2022, for a redress of the matter.
He pointed out, the Eastern Regional Minister was not able to meet them to settle the case and that they don't have any option other than to institute legal action against the Assembly.
