Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Member of Parliament for North Tongu, has accused the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government of illegally reallocating prime state lands originally designated for agricultural purposes near the El-Wak Sports Stadium in Accra.
According to Ablakwa, the lands, known as Agric Extension Lands, have been unlawfully demarcated and distributed among top officials and associates of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
In a Facebook post on December 5, 2024, Ablakwa alleged that the lands, which were first allocated to the Chief Agriculture Officer in 1959 under a state-issued Certificate of Allocation, have now been re-zoned and leased to NPP cronies without parliamentary approval as required by Ghana’s Land Use and Spatial Planning Act, 2016 (Act 925).
“The Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government has forced out all Agric officials and proceeded to illegally share that piece of prime land to NPP government officials and cronies,” Ablakwa claimed.
He revealed that a parliamentary oversight field inspection conducted on December 4 confirmed the demolition of previous bungalows on the land, with ongoing construction of residential buildings. A search at the Lands Commission, he added, identified 60 plots of the land allocated to individuals, including NPP officials Nana Attobrah Quaicoe and Kennedy Osei Nyarko, at “ridiculously low prices.”
According to Ablakwa, Nana Attobrah Quaicoe, Director-General of the National Intelligence Bureau and a former executive of Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko’s Danquah Institute, acquired Parcel Number 8 under a 99-year lease granted by President Akufo-Addo on May 11, 2021. Similarly, Kennedy Osei Nyarko, MP for Akim Swedru and former Deputy Agric Minister, received Parcel Number 18 in March 2024.
“None of them paid more than GHS300,000.00 for a plot,” Ablakwa stated, describing the transaction as “shrouded in utmost secrecy” without public advertisement.
The MP also criticized the government’s handling of previous land-related controversies, including the GIS land raids and the North Labone demolitions, asserting that they were part of a broader pattern of “corrosive State Capture.”
Ablakwa assured Ghanaians that the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), led by John Mahama, will retrieve the lands if elected, emphasizing the urgency of a Private Member’s Bill he is sponsoring to prohibit politically exposed persons from acquiring state assets.
“Our only opportunity to stop this naked corrosive State Capture is to vote out this corrupt and irredeemably greedy NPP regime,” Ablakwa declared, pledging his commitment to ensuring accountability and recovery of the lands.
