Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Chairman of the Government Assurance Committee of Parliament, has alleged that the ruling government is selling State lands “as if there is no tomorrow.”
The practice, he says will stall national development, citing the failure of the Agenda 111 project which the President said he had issues acquiring lands to undertake as an example.
He says if State lands had not been captured by party apparatchiks, government wouldn’t have complained about non-availability of same to pursue the project.
According to Ablakwa, it was for a reason that Ghana’s forebears secured extra lands for the State due to the anticipated expansion of national resources.
Speaking on the KeyPoints on TV3 Saturday, August 17, 2024, Mr. Ablakwa bemoaned the wanton dissipation of State lands which he says is inimical to the development of the nation.
The North Tongu Member of Parliament called on Ghanaians to be nationalistic in dealing with issues relating to the State, whilst responding to the allegations by the Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor, that claims of State lands being sold by the government started from the erstwhile Mahama administration.
“Even if the state assets we are losing, we started losing them even from 20 years ago, I don’t care whether it is Rawlings’ period or President Kufuor’s period, is the Minister saying the current generation of leaders shouldn’t be concerned?
“Let’s have a patriotic attitude towards national issues. Let’s be nationalistic, let’s love our country, let’s think about the future of our country. Those who came before us acquired all of these public lands for the development of our country. They even had land banks for future expansion so that when we are building our factories, factories can’t be build in the skies, they must be built on lands,” he stated.
He further lamented on the hospital project citing the President’s reason for failing to meet his deadlines.
“Agenda 111, didn’t you hear the President say that because of land challenges, that’s why he missed all his deadlines? So if we had not been selling the lands like there is no tomorrow, would the President have struggled and embarrassed himself by missing the deadlines because he says he couldn’t find land? National development is stalling because the lands that our forebears secured for us, we are selling them as if there is no tomorrow,” he stated.
His comments follow the Minister’s claim that the lands that have supposedly been sold were transacted under the NDC.
Addressing the press at a news conference in Accra Wednesday, August 14, 2024, the Minister described the allegations as “palpable falsehood”.
“The allegation was that the judicial service land was sold under this Akufo-Addo government and that is evidence of state capture but when these allegations are made my attitude is very simple, to put together the record, and assemble the facts before we make any decision.
“When the facts were assembled it turned out that the lands were not sold by under President Akufo-Addo. On the contrary, the land was sold under President Mahama in 2015,” he reemphasised.
