Committee to investigate sale of gov't lands

Source: Daily Graphic  -  A five-member fact-finding committee to look into allegations concerning the management and sale of government lands in the Tamale Metropolis has been commissioned. The commissioning of the committee is against the backdrop of some rising tensions, accusations and counter-accusations over alleged illegal sale of government land to private developers in the metropolis.

The Committee forms part of measures by the Northern Regional Security Council (REGSEC) to deal with any potential threats to peace in the area.

The committee is chaired by a Principal State Attorney in the Northern Region, Mr Salia Abdul-Quddus.

Other members are Mr Ahmed Baba Abdul Rahman, a representative of the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly; Mr Stephen Haruna Zakaria, a representative of the Sagnarigu District Assembly; Detective Inspector Innocent Agbenyo of the Regional Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service; and Mr Ahmed Siara of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) in the Northern Region.

The terms of reference of the committee include to ascertain the veracity of allegations of illegal sale of government land, to determine the extent of the practice of sale of government lands and to recommend measures to deal with the illegal sale of government lands.

The committee is to also recommend any measures that could address the tension between traditional authorities and land agencies in the region, over government lands and to consider any other issues which may be relevant to the management of government lands in the region.

Commissioning the committee at the first REGSEC meeting in Tamale last Wednesday, the Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna, who is also the REGSEC Chairman, appealed to all to cooperate with the committee so that they could bring out the facts and recommend the way forward for an amicable resolution of the issue.

"We all, especially those who will be called to assist with information, have to be truthful in our dealings with the committee and assist members with the relevant information to deal with the issue," he stressed.

Alhaji Limuna also appealed to the committee to do its work dispassionately.

The Chairman of the Committee, Mr Abdul-Quddus, promised the REGSEC that the committee would discharge its mandate with honesty, truthfulness and sincerity to ensure sanity in the sale of public lands in the metropolis.

He pledged that the committee would live up to expectation and justify the confidence reposed in it by the REGSEC.