Members of the Minority on the Lands and Forestry Committee of Parliament have accused some state agencies of using land guards in retrieving and protecting government lands.
The Deputy Ranking Member on the committee, Alhassan Suhuyini made the accusation while addressing the media.
According to him, during a meeting, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Professor Patrick Agbesinyale, revealed this information to the committee.
He said Prof. Agbesinyale claimed that the police and military engaged a land guard in reclaiming and protecting government lands at a fee.
This, he said is contrary to the Vigilantism and Related Offences Act.
Mr. Suhuyini also lamented the government’s lack of commitment to fighting land guard activities in the country.
“One would have thought that with the passage of this law to outlaw land guards, our land tenure system would have been sanitized, and we would have all been hopeful that acquiring land will no longer be a matter of life and death and so it came to us as a surprise that the Ministry has resorted to contracting a land guard to protect government lands.
“So, if the military and the police cannot protect their own lands and have to resort to the use of a land guard, then what will be the fate of the common Ghanaian who wants to acquire land and is faced with land guards?” he questioned.
Land guards are persons hired by land owners to “scare” people off the lands they have acquired.
However, they sometimes operate like vigilante groups who perpetrate assault and vandalism against land developers and their projects.
In June 2023, over 150 land guards invaded the Gomoa Okyereko community in the Central Region amidst gunshots.
The armed men destroyed farmlands and chased several people away from their farmlands.
Residents accused some politicians and opinion leaders from Winneba of sending the land guards and using force to seize their farms.