From Alfred Adams .
The Royal Family of Anokye, which owns the land on which the Ghana Gas Company is operating, has thrown its weight behind its Paramount Chief, Awulae Amihere Kpanyile III, for taking steps to ensure that the company used the right process in acquiring the land it is working on.
According to the royal family, up to date it did not know the exact acreage of land the company had earmarked for its operations. As a result, it was reasonable that, the company does the right thing in the acquisition of the land. Speaking at a press conference, the Obaahema of the royal family, Nana Bonsah III, said though the family was not against the project, they wanted the right thing to be done in the acquisition of the land.
According to her, the management of the company had failed to recognise that land have owners knowing well that lands have owners. On his part, the Tufuhene of the royal family, Awunyi Mensah Robert, added that on the three occasions that the Traditional Council invited the gas company to the table to legalise its stay on the land, the latter failed to appear. He therefore commended his Paramount Chief of the area, Awulae Amihere Kpanyile III for taking steps to ensure that the management of the Ghana Gas did the right thing in acquisition of the land which is now a subject at a Sekondi High Court.
According to the Tufuhene, the court was the only place where justice is recieved. He however called on the government to cause an investigation into the mode of crop compensation packages paid them bythe management of the Gas Company in taking over their farm lands for the project. According to the elders of the community, they have cause to belief that the management of the gas company cheated them in the payment of compensation packages.
This is because, the management of the Ghana Gas did not pay the exact compensation worth their farm produce on the land exchanged for the setting up of the gas plant after the valuation of the crops. The Tufuhene told the conference, “I had 32 coconut trees on the land, but the money given me by Ghana Gas did not reflect the value of each coconut tree.”
That apart, he added, others had, up to date, not been paid their compensation packages for farm produce destroyed.
Continuing, the Tufuhene pointed out that the suspicions of their elders were raised when their crops were valued, and no document was given to them indicating the number of crops each had. He said since they did not have any documents indicating the number of crops each had, “Ghana Gas will only call you to come for a cheque, and whether the sum on the cheque [is] worth your crop or not, they force you to sign for [the] collection of the cheque.”
This, the Tufuhene told the press conference, happened in the payment of what he termed as ‘dubious’ compensations paid out to them by Ghana Gas. It is as a result of this that they want the government to institute an investigation into the mode of the compensations paid out to them.