Police Ordered To Chase Landguards

Police District Commanders have been instructed by the Ministry of Interior to vigorously pursue �landguards� who are intimidating landowners and ensure due prosecution of offenders. The Interior Minister, Dr. Benjamin Kunbuor disclosed this in Parliament on Tuesday when the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma North, Justice Joe Appiah asked him about the steps his outfit was putting in place to curb the wanton disturbance of land developers by landguards at development sites. The Ablekuma North MP appealed to the Interior Ministry to ensure that gun-wielding landguards do not harass innocent and legitimate land owners in the country. Landguards, who are not officially or legally recognised in the country, are people who are hired to provide �security� to promote private use of lands, mostly in major metropolitan cities. The Minister of the Interior warned that anybody who takes up arms and other objects to harass other people in relation to land commits a Criminal Offence. Dr. Kunbuor told Parliament that as way of curbing this menace, a Unit within the Police Service has been mandated to arrest and prosecute such unscrupulous people who among others harass and intimidate members of the public and engage in multiple sale of land. He also advised chiefs and land owners to desist from the practice of multiple sale of lands to developers, a phenomenon which has resulted in the employment of such agents like land guards. Dr. Kunbuor also answered a question from the MP for Sunyani East, Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh as to when the Atronie Police Station in the Sunyani Municipality will be re-opened. The Police Station had to be closed down following violent attacks on police personnel by some aggrieved people of Atronie as a result of the gruesome murder of a Hospital Administrator from the town. According to Dr. Kunbuor, the Police Station was subsequently closed down mainly due to the security challenges that confronted the insufficient police personnel that were posted to man the station. The Police Administration, he indicated, will re-open the station anytime there is full assurance of co-operation by the people of Atronie and the restoration of the vandalized properties. �It is hoped that the chiefs and elders as well as the District Assembly will assist in that direction,� Dr. Kunbuor urged.