NDC has members with no positions acquiring mansions when they were in power, Blay
State lands have been shared since Nkrumah’s time
National Chairman NPP, Freddie Blay, has stated that the alleged involvement of late former Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie in the Achimota Forest land brouhaha does not imply that all members of the party are corrupt.
According to him, it is unfair and inaccurate if the actions of one person in the party is generalized and extended to define other persons in the party, 3newsroom.com reports.
“Fortunately, [Sir John’s issue] has come out, it is part of our drive to fight corruption, if indeed he acquired them illegally, why not let the axe fall. But on the other hand, don’t make it look like this is a mantra of NPP corruption.
“Don’t make it look as if because Sir John has bought lands and so, therefore, all NPP people are crooks and that they have acquired illegally. I have a car, does it mean that I went to steal to buy a car, I have a building, maybe even buildings, does it mean that because of that it means I have been a thief as the Party’s chairman and serving on the Board of GNPC?” he is quoted to have said while speaking to journalists on the side-lines of the NPP’s Western Region elections.
The NPP chairman also said the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has no moral authority to be criticising the government on this matter because they have done worse.
“If you want to talk about the NDC … there are people who have never worked in their life who joined the party, and before you realize have various mansions, flats and several of them, they have never worked in their life,” he said.
He added that, “when you want to talk about sharing government lands from Nkrumah’s days to now, there have been estates, there have been bungalows, lands of which some people have taken in one way or the other, we need to make a law against that, that you go into government you should never buy government lands, and, let us do that now.”
Freddie Blay added that the fact that the government was looking into the matter shows its commitment to fighting corruption.
The government enacted an Executive Instrument to declassify portions of the Achimota Forest land as a reserve so that it can be given back to its pre-acquisition owners, the Owoo Family.
However, a supposed Will of former Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie [Sir John] indicated that some members of the governing NPP have already acquired some portions of the Achimota forest lands even before the government returns parts of the forest to the Owoo family.
In the said Will, Sir John Willed portions of the Achimota Forest lands to his relations.
"I give my portion of the land that I jointly own at the Achimota Forest in the name of DML Limited to Elizabeth Asare Boateng who at the time of making this Will, is domiciled in the USA, forever," portions of the purported Will read.
National Chairman NPP, Freddie Blay