Landlords Accuse Abuontemhene of Alleged Extortion, Land Re-sale Before Asantehene

A year after his enstoolment as Abuontemhene, some landlords at Abountem have beseeched Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, accusing Nana Akomea Sakyi Tutu Ampam II, of extortion and land resale.

The affected landlords joined the Kumasi Traditional Council (KTC) meeting on January 23, 2025.

They caught the attention of the King when they created a ruckus as the Council had finished one item on the agenda and was about to call another.

The King offered them the opportunity to make their plights known.

Charge
The spokesperson of the group who identified himself as George Anane recounted how Nana Akomea announced in the town a directive for all forms of landowners to visit his office with receipts and documentation on their lands.

They were told that this process would require Ghc900 registration, which was subsequently adjusted to Gc1,500.

He said that after perusing the documents, the Abuontemhene judged that they all possessed illegitimate documents and thus offered them resale at a cost ranging from Ghc50,000 to Ghc120,000.

“But we felt that since we secured the land legitimately from the Nana Kwaku Duah, who preceded the incumbent chief, it was unfair to us especially those of us whose lands fall within the layout.”

They first reported it to the court of Asantehemaa where the case was given to a four-member committee, he said.

“On the first meeting of the committee, the chief reported. However, he refused to show up at subsequent meetings.”

In his submission, he indicated that they were not against a crackdown on poor settlement plans but efforts by the chiefs to shortchange those of them whose buildings or lands were properly sited.

Denial
Nana Akomea was offered a hearing during which he denied the allegations.

In his defence, he pointed out that Otumfuo had charged him to undertake a rezoning and relook at all documents of lands sold in the town.

According to him, of the number of individuals who have lands in the town, 3,830 and 30 corporate entities complied and submitted their documents when he made the announcement.

He said all 30 corporate entities and about 3,000 individuals had been cleared and given new allocation documents.

“Surveyors and town planners evaluated the lands of all attendees, checking for boundary issues and misaligned properties.”

On registration, he said it was imperative to determine multiple sale of lands by his predecessor as well as pay for the services of the surveyors and planners.

“The surveyor and town planners charged ¢3000 for a day’s work and so I had to increase the registration fee from ¢900 to ¢1,400 and then ¢1,500.”

He also admitted to taking Ghc15,000 but stated that part of it was for allocation documents.

“Though the layout was perfect, my predecessor failed to comply with it and so when I came, I decided to rezone which is also expensive. That also called for the services of surveyors, town planners, police and many more people who had to be paid. So I decided to charge ¢15,000 for the allocation document. It was also to migrate from street names to block names.”

He thus denied reselling lands to original owners, saying all legitimate landowners had rather been given new allocation document.

“I have not sold any land since I ascended the stool…I took ¢15,000 for the rezoning but there are some who pay less. I have never taken ¢50,000 from anyone.”

Additionally, he said the ¢15,000 charge was part of a re-entry plan for persons who had failed to put up any structure on their land for some years now.

This amount, according to him, was reduced for persons who could not afford it in the spirit of goodwill.

Furthermore, he affirmed that most of those who had beseeched the King had not submitted their documents for verification.

Directive
After hearing both sides, Otumfuo directed that the chief and the spokesperson to present their respective copies of the approved layout of the town to Oheneba Owusu Afriyie, Apagyahene for scrutiny.

The aggrieved landlords are to present their land documents to the same office alongside the layout by Monday, January 27.

Meanwhile, the Asantehene directed the Apagyahene to take surveyors to town on Wednesday. Their task, he noted, was to conduct a comparative analysis of the disputed lands with the existing layout.

“The surveyors must do this in their own stipulated time frame and then report back to me for an ultimate decision.”

Meanwhile, Otumfuo charged all who were building on their lands to stop work until the work of the surveyors was completed.

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini