Editorial
Let’s find a lasting solution to land guards’ activities
Land guards’ activities are increasingly posing a risk to private developers in urban areas and making it difficult for people to develop their land. Finding a lasting solution to this threat is necessary.
A group of people known as land guards attack and vandalise real estate developers and their projects.
Even though the majority of these private developers have legitimately acquired their land, these land guards intimidate, harass, threaten with all manner of weapons, and even beat their victims.
Due to the land guards’ avarice, some victims have even sustained cutlass wounds. While some land guards go around collecting digging fees and preventing labourers from working, others resort to using force to extort large sums of money from property owners.
People’s attempts to acquire and develop their parcels of land, especially those living in expanding urban communities, have become so frustrating, and the actions of these land guards have dashed the hopes of many.
The fact that people who legitimately acquired plots of land with the necessary documentation have had to abandon their projects out of fear of being killed by these land guards, as it has happened to some in the past, is extremely disturbing.
The initial purpose of the introduction of land guards was to safeguard the legitimate owners of lands, whether they be family, individual, or stool lands, from encroachments. However, some people have abused the situation to take advantage of helpless people and engage in multiple land sales.
Their actions are now more of an annoyance than a deterrent to encroachment. Some private developers, however, have turned to the courts to handle their cases to prevent them from losing their hard-earned investment.
The harassment of residents of the Amamole community in the Ga North District by land guards is a prime example of this. Residents were terrorised in the community and were forced to cry for protection and appeal to the Police and social intervention groups to help them.
Residents claim that these land guards forcibly took from them pieces of land they had purchased for more than 12 to 50 years with proper documentation, demolishing some buildings in the process.
The Spectator is worried that despite government measures to ward off land guards, they are still able to pursue their agenda. To avoid land disputes, individuals must search at the Lands Department before doing business on lands.
Also, those who parade themselves as land owners but in actual fact are crooks selling the same land in multiples should be reported to the appropriate authorities for the law to deal with them.
Let us make a concerted effort to ward off these land guards to enable individuals acquire parcels of land genuinely and be free to develop them so they can have a decent place to lay their heads.
We hope that the activities of land guards will sooner or later become a thing of the past.
Editorial
Kudos to Ho Teaching Hospital staff, but …
Dear Editor,
If there is any group of professionals that get bad-mouthed the most, then you are referring to nurses and medical doctors assigned to public hospitals across the country.
For this particular letter, I want to sing the praises of this same group of professionals that work at the Ho Teaching Hospital, famously known as Trafalgar.
Despite the work load and the mass casualties received at the emergency ward of the hospital, the welcoming nature of the nurses and the professional touch by the doctors can’t be ignored. My personal experience has got me travelling from my base in Accra to seek medical services from these professionals.
Special mention has to be made of the likes of Precious of the Pharmacy Department, Dr Brandon Banor (a maxillofacial resident) of the Dental unit, male nurse Justice assigned to the female surgical ward. Words cannot really do justice to their affable, professional caring nature. A simple thank you is all that I can say.
In the same vein, I can’t but call out the bad attitude of the auxiliary staff and contractors of the hospital.
Chief among them is some of the contracted bank staff that handle the payment section of the hospital and the patient registration section (those that check the status of the patient as to whether they are fee paying patients or NHIS sponsored).
The attitude at times leaves a bad taste in the mouth. One such occurrence was a night staff of the registration section who had her legs on the office table whilst talking to patients.
The CEO of the hospital needs to shine his torch light on this support sections before they erode the awesome performance of the direct medical staff of the hospital.
Thank you for the space.
Kwesi Manu
Accra
Editorial
Develop policies to address disability concerns
Dear Editor,
AT the beginning of the year, when I went to the bank to deposit money into my uncle’s account, I observed a very sad situation where a man in a wheelchair struggled to navigate his way around the facility.
This is because the structure is disability unfriendly.
As I stood and watched how the man struggled to move his wheelchair, I felt sad and wondered if this is how the life of a disabled person should be. It becomes worse if there is no one to offer help.
In Ghana, People With Disabilities (PWDs) are often treated differently and are often subjected to all forms of discrimination.
Most of these people find themselves in such a situation as a result of unfortunate happenings such as accidents and injuries.
It is, therefore, not appropriate for anyone to discriminate against them. Discrimination against such persons take many forms, including how buildings are constructed.
Most of the public structures are not disability friendly and impede their movement.
As a country, we should consider the PWDs in designing our structures. I also think that there should be a national policy that seeks to address this issue.
I have a strong conviction that when such a policy is developed by the government, people with disabilities would feel appreciated and also promote social inclusivity.
Ray,
Kasoa
