The Director of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Animal Research Institute (ARI), Dr E.D.O. Ansa, has clarified that officials of the institute are not involved in the illegal sale of the institute’s land at Katamanso, near Adenta, in the Greater Accra Region.

He said the management of the institute had rather taken bold steps to protect the state asset.

Dr Ansa said reports in the media that suggested that officials of the institute were fuelling illegal sale of the state lands were unfounded.

Recall

The Daily Graphic on August 8, 2020, carried a story in which the Minister of Land and Natural Resources, Mr Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh, fingered the officials of CSIR-Animal Research Institute (CSIR-ARI) in the sale of CSIR-ARI lands.

In that story, the paper indicated that the Director of CSIR-ARI, Dr E.D.O. Ansa, declined to speak to the issues when he was contacted for his side of the story.

However, in a release sent to the Daily Graphic last Tuesday, Dr Ansa said: “The CSIR-ARI fully supports the intention of the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources to go all out to reclaim these lands and to demolish illegal structures within the walls of CSIR-ARI so that the purpose for which government acquired this land can be fully realised.”

Illegal occupants

Dr Ansa explained that the illegal occupants of those CSIR-ARI lands were known faces that could be traced.

“Two chiefs of Nii Adjetey Obour Bour Family of Teshie and Anum Yemo Family of La are responsible for the encroachment of CSIR-ARI land, and they have not made a secret of this as they showed up on July 30, 2020, at the Oyibi Police Station to defend their claim to the land in the presence of a CSIR lawyer,” he said.

He added that: “This invitation by the police was made when the Anum Yemo Family physically tried to restrain CSIR-ARI staff from digging trenches to stop the entry of big trucks carrying sand and stone to further their encroachment activity.”

Other actions

Dr Ansa explained that the CSIR-ARI had previously taken steps on the encroachment activities including putting up notices in the newspapers to warn the unsuspecting public from purchasing the state lands.

“For instance, there have been publications in the Daily Graphic of March 1, 2001; March 7, 2006; June 25, 2009; June 24, 2011 and many others in the Ghanaian Times,” he said.

He said the institute had also gone to court (Suit No. FAL/103/12) and obtained a Writ of Possession (WP16/2014) to demolish illegal structures within its walls.

Clarification

Dr Ansa explained that the Minister’s visit was unannounced so “I asked a staff with the Oyibi Police Patrol Team to find out who had entered CSIR-ARI premises through a route opened by encroachers. The time delay caused by this verification process made the unannounced visitor unhappy but an explanation was given to him eventually”.

He added that the management of CSIR-ARI had already initiated processes to clamp down on the activities of the illegal occupants at the time of the minister’s visit.

“The Police patrol team the convoy of the minister met on the day of the visit was there to apprehend encroachers on the invitation of the Director, Dr E.D.O. Ansa,” he added.