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Odehe Kpakpa King Odaifio Welentsi III, Paramount Chief of the Nungua Traditional Area has expressed great worry over the indiscriminate sale of parcels of land within government acquired areas under his jurisdiction by some individuals in the area. The areas include the Sakumono Ramsar Site, which covers an area of about 1,364.35 hectares and the state lands reserved for a national sports complex covering an area of about 301.835 hectares. He has therefore called on the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Iddrisu Fuseini to take the necessary steps to stop all such encroachers from selling these lands. According to the Nungua Mantse, the Sakumono Ramsar Site is one of the six wetland sites in the country designated as Ramsar Sites to safeguard and improve the ecological values of the lagoon. The site for the national sports complex, on the other hand was to be used to construct a sports facility for the general public, the Nungua Mantse noted in a press statement released in Tema on Friday. King Welentsi III revealed that because chiefs are the custodians of the traditional and cultural boundaries of Ghana, they are duty bound to protect lands or properties belonging to the government in their respective areas, including government acquired lands. He explained that one major reason why they ought to do so is because if government acquired portions of land within a particular area; by law, if it is unable to use the land for the purpose for which it was acquired, it has to revert it to the traditional authority from where it took over. �What it means therefore is that when government is unable to use the land it has acquired from us (traditional authorities) for the purpose for which it was obtained; it has to reverse it back to us, as a matter of law. �Therefore, as traditional authorities, we have reversionary interest in lands, which government has acquired from our fathers for certain purposes, because once government is unable to use the land for the purpose for which it was acquired, we are the first options�, he noted. The Nungua Mantse also called on all traditional rulers across the length and breadth of the country, especially in the Greater Accra region to wake up and wage a crusade against the wanton sale and destruction of government properties. He said chiefs should not sit down unconcerned for some unscrupulous individuals, some of who parade as traditional authorities among others to indiscriminately sell government acquired lands to line their pockets. According to him, if chiefs refuse to protect government acquired lands within the areas of their jurisdiction and allow some individuals to encroach upon such lands, they would wake up one day to realize that there are no more lands for them to embark on development projects for their people. In a related development, King Welentsi III has written a letter to the Tema Regional Police Commander to assist one Nii Subrukutu Dadekowa I, Divisional Chief of Nungua Tetebibiano, who he has mandated to drive away all encroachers at the Ramsar Site to enable him discharge his duties well.