Deputy Ranking Member of the Lands and Forestry Committee in Parliament, Alhassan Suhuyini, has revealed that the minority caucus is asking for detailed information about the contract between Aynok Services Limited and the Lands Ministry.
He explained that the evidence is needed to guide the minority’s upcoming course of action on the Ministry’s alleged employment of land guards.
The information was revealed after Professor Patrick Agbesinyale, the Chief Director of the ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, reportedly admitted that the government utilizes the services of land guards at a meeting with the Committee.
As stated by Mr. Agbesinyale, the Vigilantism and Related Offenses Act is violated when the police and military pay land guards to retake and safeguard government-owned territory.
However, Mr. Suhuyini, who is also the Tamale North MP, stated on Tuesday that the committee would like to know the specifics of the agreement between the Lands Ministry and Aynok Holding Limited.
“We first want to introduce that contract to the committee and once that contract has been introduced to the committee, we can now invite him as a service provider to the ministry to speak on the contract. And that is why we are focused as a committee on the ministry providing us with that contract.”
Alhassan Suhuyini
The Lands Ministry, the Ghana Armed Forces, and the Police Service have all strongly denied the allegations in separate statements. They all said that non of them have ever hired a land guard to defend or regain land on its behalf.
The Lands Ministry provided in its statement, however, that it has been working with “Aynok Holding Limited,” a licensed limited liability corporation, since 2012 to help regain encroached public lands.
Contracting Landguards Set Dangerous Precedence
According to Adib Sani, a security analyst, for the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to use the services of landguards or any limited liability business to reclaim or safeguard its lands is concerning and an indictment.
The Chief Director’s revelation that the Lands Ministry, the Ghana Police Service, and even the Ghana Armed Forces hire the well-known landguard “Dzato” and his company; Aynok Services Limited to restore its infringed lands astonished the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament.
“What is their modus operandi? What is it that they can do that the police cannot do?” Mr. Adib questioned the justification for hiring “Dzato” and his Aynok Holdings, saying that “It is a very dangerous precedent that is being set by the Lands Commission.”
He further stated that protecting lands might be extremely bloody and lethal, so how a limited liability firm might perform land reclamation defies logic. Since private organizations are not permitted to possess weapons, he expressed curiosity as to how the organization carries out its duties.
“If the report we are receiving is anything to go by, it is safe to say that there is a state complicity in this land guard menace, and it is also safe to say that the Land Ministry is a crime scene. I know and we all know that any time there is a land reclamation exercise, the police or the military is heavily involved because of the dangers that are associated with it, so it just doesn’t make sense.”
Adib Sani
Moreover, Adib Sani emphasized the need to address structural problems such as people having trouble registering their property and unjustified delays in resolving land disputes, pointing out that some land matters have been litigated for forty years. He then demanded a multifaceted strategy to combat the “landguardism” that has been a danger to society.
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