Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
A group calling itself
concerned citizens of Kete Krachi has protested vehemently at the payment of
compensation to Krachiwura, Nana Mprah Besemuna III following the construction
of the Akosombo Dam.
Records before the
Commission of Enquiry investigating the payment of judgement debts indicated
that the retired Commissioner of Police, who represented his elder brother,
Nana Asetena Mensah, aka B.K. Mensah, played a vital role in the Volta Basin compensation
claims following the flooding of the.
The Krachiwura had testified that he collected a total
of GH¢1,441,352.20 in five tranches - representing about 27,000 acres for
Kantankofore family although records at the commission showed that GH¢983,116.97
was credited to his name.
The challenge
However, the group led by Alhaji Abu Sofianu Bawa, a
retired Military Officer flanked by his counsel Albert Adaare challenged the Krachiwura’s
claim saying “they were paid compensation for land that did not belong to
Kantankofore.”
He said from time immemorial including the period the
Germans ruled the area they lived in a town called Kete which was the most
populous in the basin until the VRA evacuated them and settled them on a land
bought from Kantankofore by the government.
He said they were never resettled properly by the
government and were also not included in the process for compensation for their
submerged lands.
E.I. 98 of 1973
Alhaji Bawa told the commission that even though E.I.
98 of 1973 had clearly defined their new settlement, the Knatankofore chiefs
had gone forward to claim compensation for Kete lands which did not belong to
them.
He said “Kantankofore is a different place and Kete
was also a different place so Kantankofore cannot be paid compensation for
lands that did not belong to them. They were not affected by the floods. It was
Kete that lost about 2 square miles to the floods.”
He also said that the testimony by the Krachiwura that
the lands in the Krachi Traditional Area belongs to clans were false because
the paramount chief in his deliberations with them showed that the lands were
for the stool.
“This is a clear official discrimination. E.I. 98 of
1973 stated clearly that Kete qualified for land compensation but were left out
of the processing. The money the Krachiwura collected should be for those who
are suffering.”
Cabinet Approval
Cabinet, in July 2008, approved a consolidated
amount of compensation totalling GH¢138 million for various stools/families in
Pai, Apaaso, Makango, Ahmandi and Kete Krachi Traditional Areas. An estimated
57 groups were said to have benefited from the amount.
Records at the commission revealed that GH¢71
million has been paid so far to the various claimants and the disbursement of
the remaining GH¢67 million has been put on hold to enable the government deal
with discrepancies in the payments.
Asetena Mensah Factor
All the witnesses have been telling the commission that one Nana Asetena
Mensah, a leader in the communities in Krachi, was the one who had commissioned
Kwadwo Ababio & Co, a consultant and surveyors, to survey the submerged
area out of which the individual plotting were done.
The commission has made it clear that Nana Asetena Mensah never came
forward to make any claims. Rather, he delegated the Krachiwura, who he said
had no stake in the lands, to lead the chase for the compensation.
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