Nana Professor Okogyeaman Dankwa Ameyaw Kokroko II leads his Community to repossess large tract of land from Ghana Cocoa Board
The Chief of Assin Wurakese in the Assin Central Municipality in the Central Region of Ghana, Nana Professor Okogyeaman Dankwa Ameyaw Kokroko II,led his Community members to repossess a large tract of land leased from the community to the Ghana Cocoa Board. In a dramatic move on Thursday January 20th, 2022, Nana Okogyeaman (the name significantly means “fighter/savior of community”, accompanied by his Elders and a large number of Community members, held a well-attended Press Conference at the Cocoa Research Station at Assin Wurakese to announce the community’s repossession of a large tract of land the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana, (CRIG), a subsidiary of the Ghana Cocoa Board has been occupying and working on for the past forty-seven years.
Known in private life as Professor Michael Baffoe, a Professor of Social Work at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, and a former Contributing Editor of The Ghanaian News, enumerated the list of long grievances of the Assin Wurakese Community that led to the take-over events of Thursday January 20, 2022. Nana Okogyeaman explained that his predecessor Chiefs and Elders agreed to lease a large parcel of land measuring 450 acres, then very virgin forest lands to the Ghana Cocoa Board who sought the lands for the establishment of a Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) Research Station.
The Assin Wurakese community was assured by the Ghana Cocoa Board that the establishment of this Station will provide benefits and development to the Assin Wurakese Community, which will include provision of jobs for the youth of the community through the hundreds of jobs that were expected to be created by the activities that the Cocoa Board was going to undertake under the research station.
The community and its citizens were also assured of provisions of some vital social amenities like the construction of a School, Market, Health Clinic, a Police Station and the construction/rehabilitation of a 17-kilometer road that links the town of Assin Wurakese to the site of the proposed cocoa research station at this location known as Nkukuasa. The provision of these vital amenities was to be in line with the Social Responsibility of Cocoa Board to our community whose lands Cocoa Board was leasing for its research station project. Also very important, as part of the provisions/terms of this land lease agreement, was the annual payment of cash royalties to the community of Assin Wurakese for the duration of the forty-year lease.
Nanan Okogyeaman expressed deep regret that the Ghana Cocoa Board has NOT fulfilled its social responsibilities to the Assin Wurakese Community as required under the Land Lease Agreement. Not a single one of the five items listed above, was provided by the Ghana Cocoa Board during the entire forty-year life of the land lease agreement. And equally regrettable is the fact that the Ghana Cocoa Board has not paid the annual cash royalties it was required to pay for its use of the lands to the Assin Wurakese Community till the lease expired some six years ago in 2015.
Nana further explained that what has brought the community to the repossession event is the fact that in August 2016, the Ghana Cocoa Board, in a letter written to the Assin Wurakese Traditional Council, communicated the decision of the Board of Directors of the Ghana Cocoa Board to release the entire 450-acre land back to the Assin Wurakese Traditional Council. The CRIG, that was running this Cocoa Research Station started dismantling its equipment from the site and carted same away. The Assin Wurakese Community demanded the official handover of the lands from the Ghana Cocoa Board to the Community.
To their utmost surprise, they noted from 2017 that the CRIG people were slowly returning to the land, harvesting cocoa, timber, oil palm and other farm produce. The Chiefs and Elders have since approached the CRIG officials who have been occupying the land for an explanation of their presence. They have offered none ever since, and they have continued for five years to harvest cocoa, timber, oil palm and other farm produce and not offering any accounting of same to our community.
Much agitation has gone on among members of the community, especially the youth, many of whom are unemployed and could benefit from the use of this land for agricultural purposes. Nana explained further that the Ghana Cocoa Board and its affiliate agency, CRIG, have turned deaf ears to the demands for accountability from the community on the issues raised above: i.e. the payment of the annual cash royalties due to the community for the 40-year life of the land lease agreement, the hand-over of the land as well as the accounting and payment of the revenues that have accrued from their continuous appropriation of the land since August 2016 when the Ghana Cocoa Board released the letter communicating its decision to release the land.
In their frustration, and to prevent a potential outbreak of violence among our frustrated citizenry, Nana Okogyeaman revealed that he petitioned the Office of the President in October 2021 with the same complaints enumerated above and pleaded for intervention from the Office of the President to resolve this issue and ensure justice to his community.
In a quick response, the Office of the President directed the Minister for Food and Agriculture, with a letter dated 11th November, 2021, to meet with us and find “an amicable resolution” of the issues, and report back to the Office of the President. This letter was copied to the Ghana Cocoa Board.
On 23rd November, 2021, a number of officials from the CRIG at Akim Tafo and the Ghana Cocoa Board traveled to meet with Nana and his Elders at the Cocoa Research Station. They pleaded with Nana and his Elders to give them a week to consult with their Chief Executive Officer, whom they claimed was out of the country and promised to meet with us to resolve the issue as soon as he returned the following week.
Since then, neither the Minister of Food and Agriculture to whom the Presidential directive was sent, nor officials of the Ghana Cocoa Board have made any efforts to meet with the Chief and his community over the grievances enumerated above
Nana therefore emphasized that as a result of the total disrespect shown to his community, as well as the continuous pillaging of the community’s precious resource by the Ghana Cocoa Board, they were announcing and affirming a re-possession of their land, their rightful resource.
Nana warned that the community was peacefully asking all CRIG and COCOBOD officials and their workers engaged by the Ghana Cocoa Board to vacate the lands and premises immediately. He reiterated that the community will no longer tolerate the continuous pillaging and misappropriation of their lands by the Ghana Cocoa Board and its affiliate agency, the CRIG.
In a final notice, Nana Okogyeaman asked the Ghana Cocoa Board to initiate the necessary processes to pay to the Assin Wurakese Traditional Council ALL the accumulated cash royalties due to the community for the 40-year life of the land lease agreement. He also demanded accountability for the all revenues accruing since August 2016 when they took the decision to release the land up to the day of January 2022.
The move by Nana and his Elders was highly applauded by a large number of community members who attended the repossession event.