An agreement has been put to return 262 acres of the Achimota Forest to its allodial owners, the Owoo family, according to Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Samuel Abu Jinapor.
This ruling comes after a dispute that was started by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s Executive Instrument 144, which at first sought to reclassify 362 acres of forest land so that the Owoo family could reclaim it.
Following discussions, the amount of land to be released was lowered to 262 acres in order to resolve issues with the forest’s ecological integrityDuring a news conference on Wednesday, August 14, 2024, Mr. Jinapor revealed that President Mahama’s administration decided in 2013 to give the land back to the Owoo family, and on September 5 of the same year, the cabinet gave its assent.
During a news conference on Wednesday, August 14, 2024, Mr. Jinapor revealed that President Mahama’s administration decided in 2013 to give the land back to the Owoo family, and on September 5 of the same year, the cabinet gave its assent.
Achimota Forest stakeholders expressed concerns about the forest’s ecological integrity, so Mr. Jinapor revealed that his team negotiated a reduction of 100 acres with them. As a result, the agreement now stands at 262 acres, with strict measures in place to ensure that people cannot take possession of the land without meeting certain conditions.
He emphasized that the current administration is bound by the decisions of the previous government, which had already leased out 362 acres of land.
“As far as September 5th, 2013, President Mahama’s government granted a cabinet approval for the return of this land to the Owoo family and at the time I became the Minister, a total of 362 acres of land had been concluded, leases have been given in respect of those lands, decisions have been made that 362 of the Achimota lands be returned to the Minister for one consideration or the other and that transcended from President Kufour’s government to Akufo-Addo’s government up to 2021 when I became the Minister.”
“We’ve set up a team, we went into negotiations with the Achimota Forest because we are concerned about the ecological integrity of the forest and we wanted a buffer. We wanted a buffer for what the Owoo family will have and what will now constitute today’s Achimota forest.
“We were able to negotiate a reduction of 100 acres out of the 362 acres, which had been cast in iron by the previous government and the current administration had been bound legally by the previous government for the release of 362 acres of the Achimota government.”
“As we speak today, we’ve negotiated a reduction of 100 acres and now the parcel of the land that is supposed to be released back to the family is 262 acres. Now, we’ve structured the agreement in such a way that even for an individual to take possession of the land given the ecological sensitivity of the forest reserve, we’ve put in place stringent measures before the person can take possession of the land.
“So as I speak today, even though the transaction was concluded a year ago, nobody is taking even a square metre of the Achimota Forest Land.”