<<Print>>

The Acting Managing Director of Ghana Railway Company Limited has told the Judgement Debt Commission that its lands had been taken over by chiefs who claim they were not being used for the purpose which it was acquired. According to the Acting MD of the distressed company, large portions of the lands rightfully acquired by the state had been taken over by chiefs and politicians, because the lands were lying fallow. The Twifo Praso, Konongo chiefs and the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Obuasi, he revealed, had taken over their lands because there was no money to employ people to ward off encroachers. The Acting Managing Director of the Ghana Railway Company Limited (GRCL), Benjamin Amofah, said this when he appeared before the Judgment Debt Commission yesterday, in respect a judgment debt of almost GH�1.5 million, paid by the state to one Henry Osei Dankwa, whose property was demolished during the construction of the Asafo interchange. According to him, the land in question was leased to Henry Osei Dankwa by the Ghana Railway Company Limited for 25 years, with the intention to protect the land from being encroached upon. He intimated to the Commission that though Ghana Railway Company Limited leased the said land to Mr. Osei Dankwa, his outfit was not aware of the suit, and that it was not made a party in the case. Mr. Amofah explained that Osei Dankwa applied for the land from the GRCL to build shops, and it was leased to him for twenty-five years. When asked by the Lead Counsel for the Commission, Kofi Sorkpor, the basis upon which its acquired lands could be leased out, Mr. Amofah said in 1972, it became a policy by the then Ghana Railway Corporation to lease its reserved lands for short and long term leases to protect them from being encroached by squatters. According to him, depending on the type of the lease, short or long, the plans of the of the building, if permanent, had to be scrutinised by the City Engineer, however for a short term lease, only temporary structures were allowed. Again, when quizzed by Mr. Sorpkor if the entire railway lands had been rightfully acquired by the state, and what had been done to claim the said Twifo Praso, Konongo and the Obuasi lands back, Mr. Amofah said the all the lands were legally acquired and the necessary compensations paid. It was also revealed that there is currently the Ghana Railway Company Limited and Ghana Railway Development Authority, and by Act 778 all powers had been vested into the latter. The Sole Commissioner, Justice Yaw Appau, said it baffled him as to why the Attorney General�s Department (AG) refused to defend the case in court, because the value of the building was described as freehold interest, instead of leasehold. Adding, the value of the structure was determined by the freehold interest, and the land was also valued and the judgment debt of over GH�1million accordingly paid. He said: �What Osei Dankwa was entitled to, was the value of his structure,� he noted.