- Government has released portions of the Achimota Forest Reserve to its pre-acquisition owners
- Government declassifies portions of Achimota Forest as Reserve
- Government releases parts of Achimota Forest land to pre-acquisition owners
- Public concerns grow over the release of Achimota Forest lands
Legal counsel for the Owoo family, lawyer John Edusei has stated that the decision by the pre-acquisition owners of the Achimota Forest lands to reclaim portions of the land has no monetary motivation behind it.
According to the family’s lawyer, the decision to retain portions of the forest stems from the government’s failure to use the said portions for its intended purpose.
“The issue was never about monetary compensation. We have never been given any monetary compensation”, he said on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News.
“We are saying you came for a thing, for A. You are not doing A. You are doing B, so please, once you are not using it, give it back to us. It has nothing to do with money,” the lawyer explained.
There is a public uproar over the government’s decision to declassify some 361 acres of the Achimota Forest as a reserve.
According to the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, the declassification through an Executive Instrument (E.I) is to facilitate the return of the unused portions of the forest to its pre-acquisition owners.
On the back of concerns that the released lands will be turned into an estate development that will threaten the forest, the Owoo family lawyer served assurance that the integrity of the forest will not be put at any risk.
“It has to be something that fits into the whole area so that it gives that whole concept of green, which is what one is trying to achieve there,” he stated.
It has been the case of the Owoo family that it has suffered historical injustice since the lands were acquired in 1921 and 1927 for the Achimota School.
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