Veep�s New City In Danger

Confusion is brewing over a new township project set to take off at Apollonia near Dodowa in the Greater Accra Region, as the land owners say they are not giving out their lands for any such project. The Apollonia stool says it does not know any group called Renaissance trying to invest on their lands. Management of the Renaissance Group, which is funding the projects, announced its intentions when its officials met Vice President John Mahama on Tuesday at the Castle. The townships are expected to include residential, commercial and industrial buildings, with educational and health facilities, when completed. But just a day after the announcement of the project, owners of the Apollonia stool lands raced to the offices of DAILY GUIDE with documents in tow to protest against the deal, saying that nobody had approached them for the use of their land. One of the grantors, Nii Iddrisu Tettey Mansro of the Bediako We (clan) of Apollonia, who spoke to the paper, said he and his other colleague grantors were not aware of the release of any such land for the construction of a whole new town which is expected to accommodate not less than 65,000 inhabitants. �We saw this publication in Daily Graphic that some Renaissance Group have bought some portion of land at Apollonia to construct houses or whatever they are going to do but we the grantors of the Apollonia land are not aware of such transaction,� he said.He therefore warned the group and its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Stephen Jennings, to be wary of those they were dealing with since, according to him, �if they are dealing with anybody apart from the grantors then they do it at their own risk�. That, according to Nii Mansro, was because �the chief (Nii Tei Adumoah II) alone cannot alienate land without the concern and concurrence of the three other family heads��himself, one Seth Gblie Nartey of Kojo We and Seth Affum of Sanshie-Sackey We. �We also want the whole public to know that if for any reason anybody goes to buy land from anybody except the grantors as you see in the search report, then they do so at their own risk,� he told DAILY GUIDE, whilst quoting a Supreme Court ruling which vested the right of alienation of Apollonia lands in the hands of the three ruling clans of Bediako We, Kojo We and Sanshie-Sackey We. Nii Mansro and his colleague grantors have served notice of their intention to institute legal action against any individual or group of persons who encroaches or trespass their lands without their consent and approval. Checks at the Lands Commission indicate that the said land belongs to the Appolonia Stoo,l with Nii Iddirisu Tettey Mansro, Nii Tei Adumoah II, Seth Gblie Nartey and Seth Affum as the grantors.