Police probes officers allegedly involved in land guard activities

The Ghana Police Service has launched an internal investigation into a petition filed against the use of its service patrol team to protect surveyors on a plot of land in Katamanso, in the Greater Accra Region’s Kpone-Katamanso Municipality.

On the 6th of September, 2022, the patrol team with a service vehicle bearing registration number GP 175, and based at Lakeside Estates in Accra, was reportedly sighted on the tract of land alongside persons claiming to be private security, providing security for some surveyors who were using Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment to pick data for plotting the site plan, based on ground position.

On September 10, 2022, lawyers from AHMED LEGAL CONSULT, Solicitors, Advocates, and Notaries Public on Spintex Road petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP) over the matter.

Background

On the 6th of September 2022, some gun-wielding land guards with the support of a police patrol team stormed the land in question and began pegging poles on the plot.

Not even an attempt by some members of the Okley family to stop these trespassers yielded any results, as the gun-wielding land guards together with the police team assaulted them.

The land in contention has been owned and occupied by the Okley family of Kpone for several decades. Evidence of ownership of the land is backed by Land Certificate TD 221 Vol 019 Folio 949, which confirmed the Okley family as owners.

According to the petition filed by lawyers on behalf of the family to the IGP, no court in Ghana has set aside the family’s title, hence they find it disturbing for an individual to use the support of some police personnel and hoodlums, to take possession of it.

The petition further asserted that the developer is being bolstered by the assistance of some police officers.

A highly placed Police Service source at the Headquarters confirmed that such a petition was received in addition to the Service’s channel of communication followed.

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The source who re-echoed the Police Administration’s resolve to weed out criminals and miscreants from the system hinted that as part of the investigation, four policemen including an Inspector, who happened to be on board the Service Vehicle – GP 175 on the 6th day of September 2022 and spotted on the tract of land at Katamanso, were released by the Lakeside Estate Police, to assist Katamanso with the inquisition.