RE: 4 arrested as tussle between Okyeman and KOANS deepens over land dispute

RE: Four arrested as tussle between Okyeman and KOANS deepens over land dispute

This rejoinder is in response to publications on various platforms, including yours regarding the arrests of Koans Building Solutions workers over land disputes in Okanta-Nsawem. The said publications failed to convey the complete truth, twisted several aspects to put our company and brand in a bad light, hence, this much-needed response.

Our wish is that you will be magnanimous enough to give it the same level of prominence as you did with the actual publication.

Our Response

The Koans Estate Workers arrested on site are not land guards, they are law-abiding citizens using legitimate means to earn a living who were arrested while working on a piece of land legally acquired by the company with documents from the Koforidua Lands Commission backing it. They are not land guards.

It is untrue that the Okyehene Task force stopped Koans from working on these legally acquired lands, the fact is that the Kyebi Divisional Police came with two patrol cars full of armed policemen to stop the workers and not the so-called Okyehene Land Guards who love to be called task force.

No single individual of that entity can take the law into their own hands and choose to stop us from working on our legally acquired lands, that will be a complete disregard of the law and could spell doom if allowed to fester. We are not in a banana republic; Ghana is a country governed by the rule of law.

The truth of the matter is that The Okyeman Land Guards made some attempts to stop us from working but failed because we have done nothing aside from operating on the side of the law, something that cannot be said of them.

As a law-abiding company, we respect the police and therefore when they called on us and demanded that we halt working on the land and wait for investigations, we heeded because we knew that the only outcome will be a vindication for us.

Except for the law, nothing can stop us from working on land we have legally acquired, with all the requisite documentation in our name. That misleading impression will not fester simply because we heeded the calls of the police to allow them to conduct investigations into it

The said property has been fully registered in the company’s name at the lands commission, Koforidua. In addition, there is a court injunction restraining all complainants from having anything to do with the said prosperity until the final determination of the case.
It is important to note that the Nsawam Police Command who have jurisdiction over the matter were in control and have constantly toured the area to ensure that there is peace. We were therefore quite amazed to find the Kyebi Police come in the way they did. Despite this, we didn’t resist them from doing what they came to do.

At the police station, when we presented our documents and judgement on the land, in less than three hours, all our men were released.

What was rather perplexing was the fact that those Okyehene’s land guards who accompanied the police to the sight mysteriously covered their faces with masks under the watch of the police. Even though we have known them to be land guards, they looked more like armed robbers on the day because to the best of our knowledge, land guards do not cover their faces.

The Kyebi Police have a duty to protect their reputation by not associating with such characters whose only interest is to destabilize the area. These are known ex-convicts our system has failed to reform and are being used to commit lawless deeds in the area by people who should know better.

We have raised this alarm several times and we will continue to do so until there is change, gradually, Eastern Region is becoming a breeding ground for terrorists with Nsawam as the centre of attraction. Sadly, at the heart of it is the irresponsible act being perpetrated by Amoatia Ofori Panin and his Land Guards.

The Ghana Police Service and other state security agencies cannot afford to allow such acts to continue because the constant harassment by the Okyeman Land Guards of nearly all property owners in the area could degenerate into violent clashes. As a company, we will always resort to the law because land ownership is about documentation. The Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Council do not have documents covering these lands, hence the use of hoodlums and criminals to intimidate legitimate owners.

This high level of indiscipline being exhibited by the Land-guards will never be allowed to continue and for sure it will be met with an equal measure of reprisals whenever necessary.

The call to apologize

Regarding the call to apologize to the Okyehene before being allowed the peace to work in the area, we want to put this across; if we had the slightest conviction that we genuinely offended the Okyehene, apologizing would never have been a problem because as a business, it would not be in our interest to fight when there is opportunity to some peace pipe.

The truth is that we have nothing to apologize for, we have taken it upon ourselves to fight injustice and that is only what we are going to do until those at the heart of the evil repent or are brought to book. In any case, is it not so easy to say, “Nana, we are sorry” and then start collaborating with them to make money at the expense of the many voiceless people suffering at their hands?

If nothing at all, they should apologize to us for these reasons;
1. Taking our money without giving us any land document bearing their name.
2. Demolishing a fence wall worth over 1.2 million GHANA Cedis.
3. Lying to the public that they don’t know us and that they have no contract with us.
4. Allowing land guards to harass us over lands that do not belong to them.

These and many more do not qualify you to be a responsible leader deserving any apology from our outfit because it will pave the way for more of that irresponsible behaviour from such quarters which eventually may throw this nation into a state of anarchy.

We, therefore, owe them no apology, they should rather apologize to us for the injustices meted out to us over the years. In any case, are they suggesting that the lands they claim we stole will automatically be for us legally if we say: Nana, we are sorry?

The call to apologize so we will be allowed to work is an admission that the land is indeed ours, you don’t beg to keep something you stole.

As promised, we will fight this rot no matter how much it will cost us to liberate all lands from being illegally taken over by Ofori Panin Fie and his Land guards. Such has never been the situation for any of his predecessors and must not be encouraged to take root.

This project, we believe forms part of our social responsibilities to the good people of Akim Abuakwa, those living and doing business between the Akyem Apedwa and Nsawam stretch and GHANA as a whole.

We are fighting for the weak and several people who cannot defend themselves and are seeing their livelihoods being taken away from them by these land guards. We are fighting for that old woman at Kyekyere who collapsed after her farm was completely erased by Okyeman Land Guards, we are fighting for the people of Anum whose land has been destroyed by sand weaners under the supervision of Okyeman Land guards and still resisting at attempt to wean sand at their cemetery, we are fighting for the several young people who have to pay twice, thrice and sometimes a fourth for the same piece of land because these lands guards sold to them lands belonging to others.

Why should we overlook such service to humanity and chase ill-gotten money by apologizing? If this is the kind of peace they have for us, we don’t want it.

We believe that with God on our side, we shall overcome!!!

For the battle is the Lord’s!!!

BY: Kofi Anokye

CEO, Koans Group