Lakeside Landgurds Assault Military Officer

A military officer with the 63 Infantry Battalion, Emmanuel Tetteh Padi has been severely assaulted by land guards employed by Lakeside estates after they invaded his residence at Japan Motors, near Adenta in Accra.

Speaking to the media in an interview, Group sergeant Emmanuel Tetteh Padi said he was in his house on 13^th April 2015 when some masons he had employed to work in his house called him from his hall that some visitors were looking for him.' I went out to meet them and they introduced themselves as land guards from the lakeside estates. They asked me to give them documents covering my land. I refused because it wasn't right for me to give documents covering my land to a land guard. Besides, I don't know them and wasn't sure what they were saying was true' Sergeant Padi said .

'In addition to that, these land guards were not holding any document from the court or the Police identifying them as workers from lakeside estates and I could not give an essential document covering my land to them. Immediately I finished talking, they seized everything in my house; they picked my wheel barrow, pick axe, shovel and some other things in my house into their Pick up car with green color . It happened like a robbery style of attack. At that moment I tried to defend myself by stopping them from taking my things away, and then they began to beat me in the process. One of them hit my forehead with a metal and blood began oozing from my head.' He said.

'When I fell down in the process, they then moved the car and left with my Items. I rushed to the Adenta District Police Headquarters to report the case and the police told me that it was not the right place to handle it so I should go to the lakeside Police station. When I went to the Lakeside Police station to report the case the Police officer in charge, one Vida refused to take my statement saying that the people were right since they were performing their normal duties. She said the Police station was built by the Lakeside company and that there was no way she would go and arrest people instructed by the company to guard its lands. She said that is the instruction given her. At that instance, I went to the 37 military Hospitals to seek treatment and later reported the case to the Ghana Armed Forces, Military Police Unit. They have assured me that they would take it up.' He noted.

In fact that is what is happening here, these land guards go round the Adenta communities and seize lands belonging to people and sell them to the rich and well to do in society. They do this in connivance with the Police and a certain man called Moses Dotse, a self styled Chairman of a so called Residents Association. This is day Light robbery and their Managing Director Nii Ayiku, is the one who has been instructing them to attack houses in this community.

Meanwhile a Document from the High court which has been intercepted has instructed the Lakeside estates not to harass the residents in the area till the final determination of the land dispute between them and people of Labadi, who are the real owners or legitimate owners of the land. In spite of this instruction from the court the company has employed land guards who go round to harass innocent people in their own houses and sometime eject them and sell the land to other people. This is likely to generate into a chaotic situation should the other parties repel this attacks. The government has therefore been requested to thoroughly investigate the case and punish Ni Ayiku and his commanders for violating human rights in the area.