TV3 journalist attacked by land guards
Two unidentified gunmen, suspected to be land guards, have seized the camera of a journalist on duty at the Achimota School in Accra.The journalist, Mr Fredrick Clarence of Accra-based television station, TV3, including other journalists, was on a fact-finding mission into alleged encroachment on the land of the Achimota School when the incident happened.
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He was taking footages at the site when the land guards confronted him and collected the equipment.
The gunmen were in a black Colorado pick-up with registration number GW 8336-12.
The mission was organised by the Old Achimotan Associations (OAA).
The OAA team, together with the victim, reported the incident at the Achimota Police Station.
Background
The Achimota School lands have been encroached upon by private developers.
The school’s lands were acquired by ordinance by the colonial government from the Osu stool in 1921 and an amount of 4,000 pounds paid to the elders of the stool.
However, a few years ago, the Osu Mankralo and a few elders went to court and averred that more than 170 acres of the land was not being used for the purpose for which the colonial government acquired it and, hence, it should revert to the original owners.
A legal officer of the Lands Commission, according to records available at the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, instead of informing the Attorney-General to enable the government to prepare a solid defence, failed to do so and went to court to state, among other things, that the state had no evidence to adduce in defence and, therefore, the court could go ahead and make a ruling.
The court then ruled in favour of the Osu Mankralo and his team and handed the land back to them.
The elders of Osu then proceeded to sell the land to some private developers who had begun developing the area in earnest.
Retrieve lands
Meanwhile, members of the AOO have issues with the revert of the school’s land to the Osu Mankralo stool, and the meeting was held to discuss how to retrieve it.
The President of OAA, Prof. Ernest Aryeetey, said the group would seek every lawful means possible to regain control of the land.
“A public institution has land, and private agents go and take the land, then the state cannot do anytime about it.
“In the interim, we will resort to a public campaign because it is a national issue, and every single self-respecting Ghanaian should be concerned,” he stated.
Prof. Aryeetey, therefore, assured fellow OAA’s that the group would do its best to protect the properties of the school to ensure the school’s future was guaranteed.
The Headmistress of Achimota School, Mrs Beatrice Adom, said the school had forwarded its grievances to the court for an injunction to be put on the encroached land.