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Three families in Addo Nkwanta in the Volta Region have petitioned the Judgement Debt Commission (JDC) over the purported failure of the government to pay compensation to them. The compensation is in relation to a 4,000-acre land at Pai Katanga in the Volta Region that the government bought from the families to resettle people whose buildings were inundated following the construction of the Volta dam in 1964. The Ewe Community Chief of Addo Nkwanta, Togbe Dodzi II, who represented the three families, told the JDC yesterday that their fathers bought the said lands from the Chief of Pai in 1956. He said their fathers were farming on the land before the State expressed interest in buying the land. Togbe Dodzi II said since the purchase of the land, the State had not paid any compensation to the family. He said efforts by the three families to get the compensation did not yield any results. Togbe Dodzi II, therefore, appealed to the commission to intervene to get the compensation for the family. Sole Commissioner The Sole Commissioner of the JDC, Mr Justice Yaw Apau, said it was not clear whether some people had gone behind the scenes to take the compensation meant for the three families. He said correspondents available to the commission indicated that the Chief of Worowora, Nana Asare Baah II, wrote a letter to the government in 1995 indicating that the three families were not entitled to any compensation. However, he said, in another letter in 1999, the Chief of Worawora withdrew his earlier stance and indicated that the three families were the rightful owners of the land. Mr Justice Apau said the commission would task its investigative team to delve into the issue to establish the true state of affairs. He assured the three families that if it turned out that no compensation was paid to them, the commission would recommend the payment in its report.