Otumfuo Declares War On Encroachers

The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has indicated his readiness to stop the encroachment of lands belonging to schools in the Ashanti region, particularly in Kumasi, the regional capital.

Encroachment of lands belonging to schools in Kumasi has become a major source of worry to school heads and management for some time now and efforts made by stakeholders to stop the despicable development have proved futile.

Intrusion by mechanics and other developers whose activities disturb effective academic studies has negatively affected many schools, particularly Senior High Schools (SHS) in the metropolis.

The Asantehene said he could no longer remain indifferent for lands belonging to schools to be completely taken over by encroachers.

The King of the Ashanti Kingdom called for the immediate demolition of all unauthorized structures on the land of the Kumasi Girls' SHS located at Abrepo in the Bantama constituency.

Previously the school had large tract of land, but now it has little space for future development due to massive encroachment.

In spite of the efforts by the management to fence the school, the encroachers are developing various structures on the school's property.

Operators are developing massive stalls at the main entrance of the school, which when completed, will disturb academic activities and pose a threat to internal security.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II also cautioned chiefs, who sell such lands to developers to stop the practice.

He made these admonitions when the headmistress of the school led a delegation to pay homage at the Manhyia palace on Friday and also inform the supreme leader of the school's upcoming 50 th  anniversary.

Madam Mary Krah, the headmistress, who led the delegation, used the opportunity to invite the Asantehene to attend the event in March next year.

Announcing that the year-long commemoration would be launched on May 18, the headmistress praised Asantehene for sanctioning the immediate demolition of all illegal structures on the school land.

She expressed the hope that with the intervention of the Asantehene, the problem would be a thing of the past.

The Asantehene also promised to grace the occasion and reiterated that future developments should be brought to his notice for the required action to be taken.

From Morgan Owusu, Kumasi