Ideal College students clash with suspected land guards
Chief of Mempeasem laments activities of Gyato at Mempeasem
Mempasem chief appeals to president, lands minister to intervene
Several victims are coming forward after some suspected land guards under the supervision of some alleged police officers, reportedly brought mayhem on students and officials of Ideal College on Thursday.
According to the aggrieved persons, they have become victims of the activities of one Clement Gyato who has been tagged as a serial land guard terrorizing residents and property owners at Mempeasem-East Legon, Accra.
The said Gyato on Thursday reportedly led a group of thugs and some men in police uniform to the East Legon branch of Ideal College where they demolished an assembly hall of the school under construction.
While undertaking the demolition, the Director of the school sought to question the land guards over what the school has since described as an illegal exercise.
In the process, the irate land guards reportedly pounced on the director, a situation that attracted the attention of some students.
The students who also went to the rescue of the director were met with brutalities resulting in some 23 of them suffering various degrees of injuries.
Following the incident, some residents of Mempeasem where Ideal College is located have said they have also been subjected to similar atrocities from the activities of Clement Gyato.
According to a victim who spoke on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen, he lost his bakery business of over 20 years and a four-bedroom house after Gyato and his men unduly took possession of his legally acquired land.
“I’ve been working at Legon (University of Ghana) for over 20 years so when that happened, I went with tears to plead with the TEWU chairman and his secretary. They agreed to grant me an emergency residence at Legon Staff Village Quarters and that is where I have been living over the past 3 to 4 months,” the victim whose family of 8 was allegedly displaced by Gyato said.
The chief of Mempeasem, Nii Torgbor VI on the same programme expressed grave concern about the activities of Clement Gyato and the effects it is having on some of his residents.
“I want to appeal to the president to come in because the way things are going, there will be insecurity if we don’t take time. People are aggrieved because of the way their houses have been demolished. When you demolish somebody’s house, you can’t allocate the land to someone else. But why is it so?
“When they demolish a house, they go ahead and allocate the land to another person. After two days, you will see a new fence which is very bad. We have told them that it is not allowed. How can you claim somebody’s land and allocate it to another person? It is never done anywhere. They have got their land titles and the relevant documents covering the land and you are claiming it by force,” he said.
He, therefore, appealed to the president, the chief of staff and the minister for lands of natural resources to investigate and cease the activities of Clement Gyato.
“We are appealing to the president and we are also appealing to the chief of staff. The MP is trying so hard by talking to the residents. So that things will be calm. I don’t want any bloodshed at my place over here. Because if you lose even one soul, it is bad. We are talking to the lands minister; they should stop them from coming to work over here. Because the people are aggrieved. For the past days I have not been sleeping, people are trooping into my palace,” he said.
Meanwhile, Clement Gyato on the same programme denied engaging in illegality explaining that he has a standing contract with the Ministry for Lands and Natural Resources to recover encroached state lands.
According to him, his company has been mandated to protect and reclaim encroached state lands which he and his team were discharging on Thursday.
Clement Gyato added that students of Ideal College during the process of their work pelted stones at his officers which caused a police team attached to the exercise to intervene.
“The police were called in to avert the situation and the students were throwing more stones,” he stated.
“Do we say that I have a capacity to do that and I am Ghanaian so I shouldn’t do it…? I am a proud man to protect state lands. Let me be called a land guard for that,” Gyata also added.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
