JEJEIDAYIRI YOUTH IN SHOWDOWN WITH GBC (PAGE 22, AUGUST 10, 2010)

A ROW is brewing between the youth of Jujeidayiri in the Wa municipality in the Upper West Region and the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation over the ownership of a parcel of land currently being developed by the corporation.
The youth said if the GBC failed to halt all activities on the land, a conflict might erupt.
“We want to stage our utmost and total displeasure at the manner in which the GBC management want to bend the laws of Ghana by using the security forces to intimidate the Jujeidayiri community in order to confiscate a portion of land which is not part of a piece of land given to them,” said Mr Mohammed Nanii, a spokesman for the group, at a news conference in Wa.
He said the community had exhausted all official means to resolve the issue amicably and would resort to other methods to stop the GBC from further development.
According to Mr Naani, in May this year, a meeting was held among the elders of the community, the Wa Municipal Assembly, the GBC management and the police to resolve the issue and a consensus was reached that work should halt until a lasting solution was found.
However, he said, to the utmost surprise of the elders of the community, work started again on that portion of land under full police guard.
Mr Nanii said it was ridiculous and elementary for the GBC to rely on inconsistent certificates of allocation signed by the Commissioner of Lands in 1954 and 1956, as the basis for ownership of the land.
He argued that a certificate of allocation only opened the negotiation doors and did not vest ownership of the land.
Mr Naani said the youth of Jjujeidayiri had resolved that no amount of intimidation or force from any quarters would prevent them from pursuing the matter.
“We shall resist in no uncertain terms any forceful means by GBC and its collaborators to rob us. GBC will never know peace should they make an attempt to further extend the wall beyond where it is at the moment,” he warned.
Mr Naani appealed to the regional minister and stakeholders to prevail on the management of GBC to spare the good people of Wa any disturbances.