This was in a statement issued by the Public Relations Unit of the Ministry and shared with the Ghana News Agency in Accra.

“The Ministry would like to set the records straight that Government and for that matter the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources does not contract the services of land guards in its operations.

However, the Ministry through its agency, Lands Commission, legally engaged the services of Aynok Holding Limited, a registered limited liability company to assist in reclaiming encroached government lands.

“This engagement has been in effect since 2012,” it stated.

On Monday, July 17, 2023, Alhaji Alhassan Suhuyini, the Member of Parliament for Tamale North, alleged that the Chief Director of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources had told the Parliamentary Select Committee on Lands and Forestry that the Ministry had engaged the services of land guards to retrieve encroached state lands.

“We wish to categorically state that the Government and by extension the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources employ legal processes to reclaim all encroached state lands,” the statement said.