Only Parliament Can Declassify A Reserve, Cancel E.I On Achimota Forest – CLOGSAG To Akufo-Addo
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The Civil and Local Government Staff Association (CLOGSAG) has called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to cancel the Executive Instrument (E.I) enacted to declassify peripheral portions of the Achimota Forest Reserve.
According to the Executive Secretary of CLOGSAG, Isaac Bampoe Addo, the E.I. enacted on behalf of the president by the minister for lands and natural resources should be cancelled because the laws of the country state clearly that only Parliament has the power to declassify and reclassify lands in the state, 3news.com reports.
Bampoe Addo added that he does not understand why members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the ruling party, the New Parotic Party (NPP) are fighting over the declassification and release of the Achimota Forest land.
“… this media war by the NPP and the NDC, we don’t understand it because the LUPSA Act, that is the Land Use and Special Planning Authority Act, 2016, Act 925, makes it very clear the procedure to be adopted when you are declassifying the forest reserve.
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“… per this act, the body that can approve the declassification of the Achimota Forest is Parliament, not an EI. So, LUPSA, before they can work on any rezoning, it must have been approved by Parliament, I am not the one saying it, this is the law,” Bampoe Addo is quoted to have said.
The Executive Secretary added that the EI enacted by the lands minister is just a paper that cannot work, adding that officials of the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority (LUPSA) should refuse to work on any document submitted to it by the government with regards to the Achimota Forest land because the law is clear that only Parliament can declassify lands.
Background
There was a news report suggesting that the Government had gazetted an Executive Instrument (E.I.) to approve the redesignation, sale or development of Achimota Forest.
A document from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, making reference to an E.I., stated that the Achimota Forest Reserve is to no longer be regarded as a forest reserve.
“An Executive Instrument (E.I.) 144 gazetted on behalf of President Akufo-Addo by the Lands Minister Samuel Abdulai Jinapor indicates that effective May 1, 2022, the land on which the Forest is located shall cease to be a forest reserve.
“The President’s action was in accordance with Section 19 of the Forest Act, 1927 (CAP. 157) which gives him the authority to declare that particular land is no longer required as a forest reserve,” portions of the purported E.I. read.
But, Samuel Abu Jinapor, Minister, Lands and Natural Resources, dismissing these accusations at a press conference on Tuesday, said the Executive Instrument, E.I. 144, pertained to 361 acres of peripherals of the Achimota forest.
He explained further 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.
“The District Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority with jurisdiction over the land specified in the schedule, shall, within three months after the coming into force of this instrument, prepare for the approval of the Minister [of Lands], a master plan for the development of the land specified in the schedule,” portions of the E.I. read.
