Kweku Baako’s Armchair Journalism Exposed Again

Managing Editor of the New Crusading Guide, has had his armchair journalism exposed again over the Tema Development Corporation’s (TDC) demolition exercise, as he claim last week Tuesday’s event ‘has created internal refugees’ in the country.

According to him, the exercise has rendered a lots of people homeless and turn them into refugees in their own country, paints a bad picture of ‘us’.

“Having slept on your rights for such a long time, you deal with the mischief in a certain way, which will even give you a high moral ground and mass support. But with the ‘bugabuga’ way, it is difficult for you to sell your case. I can imagine the impression and the image we are building forcourselves when this picture is taken to a foreign country,” he said on Peace FM on Wednesday.

Mr. Baako, believes strongly that the demolishing exercise could have been avoided had the corporation been vigilant.

But The Herald’s investigations into the demolishing exercise carried out by the TDC, had revealed inaccuracies in the claims of the so-called victims and politicians on the side of both the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The Herald’s findings established that TDC did not sleep on its rights as claimed by Mr. Baako, but had been in court battling encroachers on it land.

In fact, The Herald had seen two court judgements from the Tema High Court, presided by Her Lordship, Justice I.M. Heward-Mills and another from the Court of Appeal presided by Justices Owusu, Anim and Kusi-Appiah.

The two judgements dated February 28, 2003 and January 17, 2008 respectively confirmed TDC’s ownership of the vast plot of land, describing the encroachment and sale to private individuals as fraudulent.

This paper’s findings, had exposed the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for Tema West, Lawyer Irene Naa Torshie Addo and the NDC man struggling to unseat her, Ofosu Ampofo, as supporting the wanton rape of state lands, armed attacked, development of slums and other criminal activities at Adjei Kojo, a suburb of Ashaiman near Tema.

It was also discovered that only 65 illegal structures were demolished and not 300 mansions or luxurious houses, as being churn out by the “victim-loving” media men and politicians.

Parts of the state-land in question were sold by the heavily armed land guards, foreigners and private individuals, operating under the claim that they are descendents of a dead chief of Tema, Nii Oniku II.

The criminal activities of the armed land guards, led by one Solomon, who runs an area called “Solomon City”, Nigeriens and individuals, have led to TDC losing a massive 905 acres originally designated as Tema Community 23 and Tema Community 24, respectively, the TDC. Presently has less than 10 acres of land left for its intended projects.

Indeed, a recent survey, shockingly revealed that an occupied area of 905.82 acres, not a single person paid a pesewa to TDC for the acquisition. Currently TDC is selling its serviced plots for GH¢30, 000.

Over 300 nurses and other health workers, as well as civil servants, have falling victim to the criminal activities of these fraudsters. About ¢1.5 billion were collected from them by the fraudsters on the pretext of giving them plots, which turned out to be TDC lands. The Corporation is trying to salvage the situation by offering them another land which must be paid for, but most of them have no money.

The demolished houses in question The Herald observed were mostly wooden structures with a lot of uncompleted houses, some of which were not even roofed at the time they were demolished.

Some of these illegal structures, served as a den for criminals and foreigners, from whom weapons and ammunitions were retrieved by state Security Officers, during the demolishing exercise.

The demolishing exercise was not arbitrary. It was planned over three years, as many as three notices were served on the builders, owners and occupants of the wooden and uncompleted structures, before they were eventually razed down last week by the TDC and a taskforce, made up of military, police and personnel of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).

The Herald’s information was that prior to the exercise, TDC had established a complaint desk inviting legal tittles to the said lands from the occupants to submit their documents for verification, but nobody showed up.

Additionally, invitations from the National Security Secretariat to the so-called descendants of the late Nii Oniku II to submit their documents for confirmation also fell flat.

According to Mr. Baako, once the buildings were visible, the authorities could have stopped the first person who started building, instead of waiting for a lot of people to build and then you go to demolish them.

“We are proving incapable of dealing with certain issues; what prevented them from dealing with it over the years; it is an indictment on the whole nation. It reflects a negative picture on us. We have created refugees right now and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), have gone to their rescue. They were provided with electricity and water, which also makes the whole State guilty; we have made victims and refugees of the citizens,” he added.

Head of Communications at TDC, Dorothy Asare-Kumah, had explained that the land guards and other claimants of the State land, ignore court injunctions slapped on both parties, when they started selling land to private individuals to build houses.

She has told several radios stations in Accra that by the time the case was over, a massive 905 acres originally designated as Tema Community 23 and Tema Community had been encroached on.

Source: The Herald