The Minority Leader in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu, has charged the president of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to stop plans to give off some airport lands to private development since it endangers the country’s national security.
Speaking to GhanaWeb on Wednesday, October 19, 2022, the lawmaker explained that he has been reliably informed that the private developer who has been given those lands is allegedly a close friend of the president.
Haruna Iddrisu added that it makes it difficult to understand why the president would allow such lands, which are in a prime security enclave of the country, to be given out to private developers.
He explained further that, especially when employees of government institutions are paying rent in other areas, this land could rather be dedicated to offering them better accommodation in the future.
“The purpose of this press briefing is to task the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to call one of his friends to order. And why I’ve had to call this press briefing is because it is in the public interest and in the national security of the country.
”My attention has been drawn to an initiative by the Ministry of Agriculture, working in cohort with the Lands Commission of Ghana, to give away one of our land jewels on the GIFAC road, which used to house the Agric Mechanization Center, where those tractors and combine harvesters are normally brought in and sold to farmers and persons associated with the activities of agriculture.
“That land is being sold for redevelopment purposes to an entity known as (sic) Holdings Limited. Whatever it is, that land, as close as it is to our national airport, which is a strategic national security asset, I do not think should go into private hands, or private development, particularly when the Ministry of Agriculture and its agencies are struggling and paying rent elsewhere,” he said.
Haruna Iddrisu, therefore, called on the president to stop this move and rather have those lands secured for use by the security bodies around it, as quoted by Ghanaweb.com.
He also expressed his heartbreak at the possibility of such a thing happening in the country.
“Maybe if it is preserved for the state, preserved for the military high command – the Ghana Armed Forces, because just in front of, beside of it, adjacent it is the Ghana Armed Forces – the Ghana Airforce, and the national airport.
“To think that this land will suffer the wanton dissipation of compulsorily acquired state land, breaks my heart and I think that President Nana Addo Dankwa must stop this,” he added.