Withdraw directive on disputed land – Ayawaso East residents tell Local Government Minister over decision to allocate land to Ayawaso North Assembly

Officials of the Ayawaso East Municipal Assembly, opinion leaders and residents have asked the Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development to withdraw a directive he gave regarding a land which is a source of dispute between the Ayawaso East and Ayawaso North Assemblies.

According to the leaders, the Minister’s action contravenes the Legislative Instrument (LI) that established the two assemblies, thus could escalate tensions.

At a media briefing in Accra, leadership of the Ayawaso East Assembly and opinion leaders said since 1992 the Ayawaso East and Ayawaso North were under the Accra Metropolitan Assembly until 2017 that the two were established as separate assemblies.

According to the group, a Legislative Instrument passed by Parliament delineated the areas for the two assemblies, noting the Kanda Highway is the boundary separating the two.

The Assembly Member for Nima 441 who addressed the media said, “historically, and legally, this area has been part of AEMA’s jurisdiction as defined by Legislative Instrument (L.I.) 1615 which is the mother law that gave birth to the two assemblies and clearly defined the boundaries indicating the Kanda Highway and house numbers that fall within the electoral area of Kanda under AEMA per L.I. 2310’’.

He said the Ayawaso Assembly has never had an issue with the boundary line until the company, Decathlon was set up there.

They found it strange why the current Local Government and Rural Development Minister, Martin Adjei Korsah would decide to assign the disputed land to Ayawaso North.

“We hope our suspicion that the Member of Parliament and the Chief Executive Officer are leveraging on their friendship with the Minister to skew matters in their favour, is not true because such ungodly alliance to deny AEMA its right will never work.”

The group asked the minister to withdraw the directive as they do not want the two neighboring communities to engage in a any social vice.

‘’Mr Minister, information a committee’s report cannot override a Legislative Instrument passed by Parliament of Ghana. We reject the decision of the Minister and call for immediate withdrawal of the directives from the Minister. Consequently, we are calling on the MCE of AEMA and the staff of the Municipal Assembly not to respect or implement this directive from the Minister since this is an illegal directive,’’ the spokesperson said.

Efforts to get a response from the Minister proved futile. He said off camera that he acted upon a report that had been prepared by some collaborative ministries and agencies.