The Owoo family, the pre-acquisition owners of the Achimota Forest land, have set the records straight after the government revealed that some portions of the Achimota Forest in Accra will no longer serve as a forest reserve since it has been handed over to the family.
According to the Owoo family, they have suffered grave historical injustice as the family has had to, in the past, accept terms to enable it to move on, which it strongly believes have been unfair and unjust.
In a statement released by the elders of the family, it said that “the much talked about 19th August, 2016 ceremony which has been erroneously stated in the public as an occasion when land was released to the Owoo family is false and misleading. That ceremony was a sod cutting ceremony for the development of the Achimota Forest into an Eco- Tourism Park. The Owoo Family were mere invitees/guest.”
The family also denied being paid any compensation for the 1927 acquisition of the land.
“The acreage due the Owoo family was arrived at through a long standing negotiations which in many respects predates the current administration. This was done with the active involvement of various State technical negotiators and agencies.
“The Owoo family has petitioned all governments in the fourth republican dispensation and indeed is yet to take possession of any parcel of land to date,” the statement added.
There have been some mixed reactions on social media after the government revealed some portions of the Achimota Forest in Accra will no longer serve as a forest reserve.
This comes after an Executive Instrument (E.I.) 144 gazetted on behalf of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on April 19, 2022, and quoted by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, emerged on social media.
Per the document, effective May 1, 2022, those portions [361 acres], sections of which had been developed and had already been released to the Owoo Family in September 2013, is no longer a forest reserve.
However, some Ghanaians have taken to social media to protest against the sale of the forest reserve.
But Samuel Abu Jinapor has denied the forest reserve has been sold.
During a press conference on May 17, the minister said the Executive Instrument, E.I. 144, pertained to 361 acres of peripherals of the Achimota forest that the government is returning to its custodial owners, identified as the Owoo family because the land was not being used for its intended purpose, which included the extension of the Achimota School.
Source: ghanaweb
