The 80-page report contains recommendations that sought to ensure sanity in the acquisition of government lands. Speaking at a ceremony in Accra on Thursday to receive the report, Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah, the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, said out of the 156 acre lands, 366 plots had been encroached upon by squatters, earmarked for the MDPI.

The Minister said government would soon issue a White Paper on the Committee’s Report in order to determine the way forward. However, he said, government would further engage with the squatters to ensure a peaceful resolution of the matter.

Mr Rudolph S. Kuuzegh, the Chairman of the 12-Member Committee, said in May 2017, the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations tasked the Committee to determine the value of the encroached lands and structures on them.

He said it was also to meet with the squatters and ascertain their status of claim and make recommendations to the government on the available options in repossession of the lands. Mr Kuuzegh added that, the Committee was supposed to interact with the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Arts or the Ghana Tourism Authority  to strike a deal to offset claims of that sector, the MDPI Offices and its present location.

Currently the MDPI is located at Osu, near the Birth and Death Registry, which falls within the area earmarked for the Marine Drive project and therefore must relocate to Baatsonaa to pave way for the commencement of the project.

He said after almost six months of intensive investigations and interaction with the relevant stakeholders, the Committee recommended that sufficient notices should be submitted to the occupants of the lands for a period of 21 days.

Mr Kuuzegh noted that, the Committee consulted relevant existing literatures and the Public Lands Protection Act of 1974, which emboldened the government to confiscate the encroached lands, remove all goods and property of occupants.  He mentioned other stakeholders consulted in the course of the Committee’s investigations as the Nungua Stool, the Lands Commission, the Ministry of Finance, as well as some residents, who had encroached on the government lands.

The government had the right to demolish any structure or obstacles on public lands and terminate any nuisance or interferences of trespassers, he said. Mr Kuuzegh said the members of the Committee were drawn from relevant stakeholders, including the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, MDPI, Office of the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General and Lands Commission.

The rest include representatives from the Nungua Stool, Tema Metropolitan Assembly, Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipal Assembly and residents, who had encroached on the lands.