La Youth threaten government over forceful takeover of lands

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A group calling itself the Coalition of La Associations (COLA) has threatened to take legal action at the national and international level against the state over the forceful takeover of lands at La.

According to the group, the government, through the military, Lands Commission and other agencies have been conniving to take over lands that belong to the people of La.

The La youth said several petitions written to the president over the years on the matter have not yielded any result.

It said the government has treated the people of La unjustly by taking over their lands and unilaterally extending lease periods.

It said it will “take a number of legal and constitutional steps to get justice for the people of La” if the government does not respond to them within a week.

“We shall expose all La land looters and invoke the jurisdiction of the Special Prosecutor for the necessary action. We will take our case to the international circuit for redress. We shall lodge a case of State Sponsored Systematic Genocide and Landlessness at International Criminal Court (ICC) and the United Nations (UN),” the group said.

The group vowed to resist the latest attempt by the Ghana Armed Force and the Lands Commission to “illegally grab La lands” for the erection of a statue of the Late Major Adam Mahama.

“We are resolved, that we shall not allow the use of unconstitutional, illegal, irregular or clandestine methods to steal our lands and will resist same by every means possible,” the youth group said in a statement.

“We advise the Military not to drag the good name and image of the Late Major Mahama into their attempt to steal La Lands and further advice his family to decline the gesture as the motivation is dishonest,” they added.

Oscar Nii Odoi Glover, the convener of the group, said although the chiefs and people of La will continue to provide land to the state for development activities, it will not tolerate the waste of those land resources.

“Lamei have given lands to the State for national developmental purposes and will continue to do so, however, we will no longer allow wanton waste nor theft of our lands by any person(s), 3 government nor politicians or business interest. Going forward, La Land administration will be done with the best interest of La and Ghana as paramount,” their statement noted.

“In the meantime we advise Government, the Lands Commission, the Ghana Armed Forces the Ghana International Trade Fair Company Limited to immediately halt any project(s) in dispute,” they added.

By: citinewsroom.com