Government, the ADM learnt, has recognised the issue for compensation for lands acquired nationwide for public purposes, and has initiated a Land Administration Project which include taking inventory of all state acquired lands, examining their state and determining the needed amount for compensation.

In a talk show on an Accra based FM station which was monitored by the ADM, Mr. Ebenezer Kwabena Dadson, Greater Accra Regional Lands Officer said the government has contracted loans and grants totalling about $65 million towards the project.

He said the Lands Commission has almost finished with taking inventory of state acquired lands in the Central Region and added that of Greater Accra is being done on a pilot basis.

Mr. Kwabena Dadson said government has shown much concern in the exercise and has started returning some lands that were not used for the public purposes to their owners.

He cited lands acquired for the Scientific Instrumentation Centre of the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) at Ogbojo in Accra, and said government after realising that the land acquired for the Centre was far in excess asked the CSIR to state how much land it needed.

He said a layout was prepared and the part of the land not needed was given back to the family from which it had been acquired.

Mr. Kwabena Dadson said another issue the government is looking at is the mode of payment of the compensation- whether it should be paid annually to benefit the generation yet unborn or once and for all.

A group known as the Ga Dangme Council last Tuesday in Accra organised a demonstration demanding the payment of compensation for state acquired lands and the return of lands that were not used for the public purposes, an issue that predates the government of the day.

It is worthy to note however that the problem of compulsory land acquisition by the state had not been in the case of the Ga Dangme people only, as the Ga Dangme Council seems to portray.

Various ethnic groups from different parts of the country have been affected by the governmental policy of compulsory acquisition of lands.

Just to mention a few, the people of Akyem Abuakwa have the largest forest in West Africa as the Ashanti have lands for minerals like gold, diamonds, etc but all these are vested in the President and controlled by the Forestry Commission and the Minerals Commission respectively.

Some communities were made to lose their lands for schools, hospitals, offices, and other projects for the benefit of the entire citizenry.

Other communities in the Volta Region lost their lands, which were submerged by the Volta Lake during the construction of the Akosombo Dam to the benefit of the nation.