The North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, claims that public officials are using the Owoo family as a ruse to grab state properties.
The “OWOO” in the Owoo family stands for “Officials Within Organized Operations,” according to Mr. Ablakwa.
“The Owoo family will undoubtedly go down in history as Ghana’s largest extended family,” he posted on Twitter on Monday.
The Owoo family will definitely enter record books as Ghana’s biggest extended family.
It’s much clearer now that OWOO is a code for: Officials Within Organized Operations.
The reason I went to the Supreme Court in 2008 against public officials buying govt lands — BAN this now!
— Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa (@S_OkudzetoAblak) May 23, 2022
When he went to the Supreme Court in 2008, the MP said he wanted to contest the selling of lands to state officials.
Mr Ablakwa has called on the government to intervene and “ban this now” because of its persistent presence.
The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources said two weeks ago that the government had gazetted an Executive Instrument, E.I. 144, that covered 361 acres of Achimota woodland outskirts.
The Owoo family, the custodial owners, will receive a share of the land.
The Achimota Forest Reserve will no longer be considered a forest reserve, according to the Ministry.
“An Executive Instrument (E.I.) 144 gazetted on behalf of President Akufo-Addo by the Lands Minister Samuel Abu Jinapor indicates that effective May 1, 2022, the land on which the Forest is located shall cease to be a forest reserve.
“The President’s action was in accordance with Section 19 of the Forest Act, 1927 (CAP. 157) which gives him the authority to declare that particular land is no longer required as a forest reserve,” portions of the purported E.I. read.
The Owoo family, in its first public statement on the Achimota Forest brouhaha, said it has suffered grave historical injustice.
“The Owoo family has petitioned all governments in the Fourth Republican dispensation and indeed is yet to take possession of any parcel of land to date,” part of the full statement from the Owoo Family read.
But the Osu Traditional Council has contested the claim to ownership.
Nii O.T. Ankrah, a spokesperson of the Osu Stool, said on Angel FM’s Anopa Bofo Morning Show that the forest “perfectly” belongs to the Osu Stool and was handed over to the State for the construction of Achimota Senior High School and subsequently, its extension.
Source: The Independent Ghana
