Deputy ranking member on the Lands and Forestry Committee of Parliament, Alhassan Suhuyini, has requested the Lands Ministry to furnish the committee with the contract details between itself and Aynok Services Limited.

According to Mr Suhuyini, this is to allow Parliament to determine whether claims that government has been contracting land guards to reclaim encroached lands on its behalf are true.

During an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show, Mr. Suhuyini said “We first want to introduce that contract to the committee and once that contract has been introduced to the committee, we can now invite him as a service provider to the ministry to speak on the contract and that is why we are focussed as a committee on the ministry providing us with that contract.”

On Monday, July 17, Minority members of the Lands and Forestry Committee of Parliament accused the government of enlisting the services of land guards for the retrieval and protection of government lands, citing statements made by the Chief Director of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Professor Patrick Agbesinyale, during a meeting with the Committee.

Govt allegedly using land guards to reclaim encroached lands - Leaked audio reveals#INDNews Akrobeto | Thomas Partey | GTBank | ghana police | La Masia | Addo D pic.twitter.com/shyETcRUZG— The Independent Ghana (@independent_gh) July 17, 2023

Per a leaked tape, the Police and Ghana Armed Forces are said to involved in such act.

Addressing the media, the Deputy Ranking Member on the Lands and Forestry Committee of Parliament, Alhassan Suhuyini bemoaned the lack of commitment on the part of the government to combat land guard activities.

“The other shocking revelation according to the Chief Director is that even the Ghana Armed Forces and the Police use this same land guard to protect their lands. So, if the military and the police cannot protect their own lands and have to resort to the use of a land guard, then what will be the fate of the common Ghanaian who wants to acquire land and is faced with land guards?” he quizzed.

But the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has refuted allegations made, arguing that the Lands Commission has legally engaged the services of Aynok Holding Limited, a registered limited liability company to assist in reclaiming encroached government lands.

This engagement, the ministry said, has been in effect since 2012.

Also in a press statement signed by Director General Public Relations, Brigadier General E Aggrey-Quashie, the Ghana Armed Forces assured all that the allegation is false and should be treated with the contempt it deserves.

They argued that it is unimaginable that GAF cannot protect its own lands but rather indulge in an illegality by relying on the services of land guards, a proscribed activity.

"GAF deems it as regrettable that news reports emanated from unsubstantiated allegations made by the Chief Director of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Prof Patrick Agbesinyale at a Parliamentary Committee meeting on 10 July 2023.

"We wish to stress that this allegation which was repeated by Hon Alhassan Suhuyini, Member of Parliament for Tamale North to the media is false and should be ignored," the statement added.

On the matter, the Ghana Police Service has also refuted any alliance with land guards.

In a statement dated July 17, the Police Service said it "has not on any occasion engaged the services of land guards to reclaim or protect its lands."

"In fact, on the contrary, the Service has in recent times intensified its anti-languard operations in communities affected by the activities of these land guards and this renewed effort will not stop until perpetrators of such illegal activities are brought to justice," the statement added.