Encroachers on CSIR lands plead for more time

Large portions of the land have, however, been taken over by the encroachers over the last 16 years.

The  CSIR told journalists last week that the encroachment had caused serious damage to its properties, hence the move to eject the occupants.

Visibly worried developers who thronged the media briefing asked the CSIR to consider their interest and back down on their demolishing plan.

“We’ve erred, the chiefs who sold the land also erred and the CSIR also erred in not stopping any further development when this started. So now that we have all these well-established amenities in place, it would be heartless to pull all of them down,” one resident told the Daily Graphic.

The CSIR has since April 2012 secured a court ruling to reclaim the lands with notification having been served on the residents.

But the encroachers have applied for an injunction to restrain the council even as  they dialogue with the officials to find an alternative way forward.

But the chairman of the residents association, Mr Kwasi Owusu Poku, said most of them had been deceived by chiefs who claimed the government under former President John Kufuor had released the land to them.

Mr Owusu Poku proposed that the association was ready to atone tenancy of the land to the CSIR to create a win-win situation.

“In the light of the housing deficit in Ghana currently, we think it may not be prudent to pull down over 2000 houses. We ask the CSIR to temper justice with mercy so that we take the necessary steps to regularise our occupancy of their property,” he said.

He refuted allegations made by the CSIR that developers on the land had built structures close to the institute’s dam which was developed for watering the livestock and also to be treated as a source of water for areas around the facility.

Construction on the land has persisted despite a June 2006 injunction restraining the occupants of the land to vacate.

The facility currently runs 12 research facilities of national importance.

Story by Justice Baidoo