At Monday’s sitting of the Commission investigating past judgment debt payments by the State, Madam Comfort Aboagye, a native of Koforidua confirmed to the Commission that she had received compensation for a piece of land acquired by government to put up the Koforidua Polytechnic.
Her comments validated an earlier testimony by the Rector of the Koforidua Polytechnic, Professor Reynolds Okai. He had told the Commission at an earlier sitting that the institution paid 293,000 Ghana cedis to two out of the five claimants who had claimed ownership of the land on which the school has been built.
Professor Okai had told the Sole Commissioner, Justice Yaw Apau, that in 2010 the Land Valuation Division of the Lands Commission brought a list of five people who had claimed ownership of the Koforidua Polytechnic land. The total land area is 28.049 acres.
While confirming Professor Okai’s testimony before the Commission that she had been paid, Comfort Aboagye fell short of disclosing the exact amount paid to her as compensation.
“My Lord, I received my money for the land acquired by government but I am unable to tell how much it was. But it was my sister who received the money on my behalf,” Madam Aboagye said through an interpreter.
At a previous sitting, the Commission had inquired from Professor Okai if he knew the owners of the rest of the 50.361 acres of land, and whether he did not foresee people popping up later to demand compensation. In response, Prof. Okai said the Executive Instrument (E.I) that ceded the land to the state under the compulsory acquisition regime unequivocally stated that nobody could come back to claim compensation for the land acquired.
Prof Okai said the land acquired belonged to the New Juaben Municipal Assembly, while another part belonged to the Akwapim North District, and intimated that the five claimants were inhabitants of the Akwapim North District.
The Judgment Debt Commission was established by President John Dramani Mahama under Constitutional Instrument (CI) 79 to investigate past judgment debts paid by the Government of Ghana to institutions and individuals in and outside Ghana.
By: Pearl Akanya Ofori /Citifmonline.com/Ghana