<<Print>>

TESTIMONIES AT the Judgment Debt Commission chaired by Justice Yaw Apau by some beneficiaries of the Volta Basin Flooded Areas point to the fact that many who benefitted inflated the acreages to claim huge compensations. For the past weeks, recipients of part of the cabinet approved GH�138m compensation have been telling the commission how much they received and how the money they received were disbursed. At the commission�s marathon sitting on Tuesday, 12 of the beneficiaries who appeared before the commission noted that they ceded the lands based on resolutions they passed which informed their claims. So far, government has released a total of GH�71m for various stools/families at Pai, Apaaso, Makango, Ahmandi and Kete Krachi Traditional Areas and about 57 groups were said to have benefited from the amount. The disbursement of the remaining GH�67 million has been put on hold to enable the government deal with discrepancies in the payments. Witnesses of the eighth and ninth batch who appeared before the commission have been tendering in evidence site plans that did not have dates, but were used to claim the money from the Lands Commission. Ahenkro Nana Kafra, a chief of Ahenkro in the Pai Katanga paramountcy told the commission that he claimed an amount of GH�89,183.00 in five tranches for 1,600 acres for his people, but later said that 500 acres was deducted for Motodua due to a conflict. Asked to produce documents he relied on in claiming the amount, he said he gave the documents to a lawyer for litigation with the people of Motodua following a boundary dispute, but he never got them back. Apaaso Nana Ampong Adjei II admitted that they were settled alongside three other communities on a 4,500 acre land. Though he told the commission that he received a total of GH�1,161, 547.54, records at the commission indicated that he collected GH�1,036,379.54. Banda Bonwesi & Grubi Nana Omane Kuminte also told Justice Apau�s commission that he is a chief of Banda Bonwesi and took two claims on behalf of his town and Banda Grubi who according to the commission were not on the list of communities to be paid compensation. He told the commission that he collected GH�34,573.44 in five tranches for 656 acres for Banda Bonwesi and GH�100,156.20 (although the commission�s records showed he received GH�68,177.62) for 1,886.42 acres for Banda Grubi. Ntoabuoma Opanin Kwabena Antwi of Ntoabuoma known in private life as Col. Rtd. Alex Antwi said to the commission that he collected a total of GH�4,087,418.21 for 77,000 acres for his uncle Nana Akom Boahen of Akroso for the community who was then the chief. Akaniem Nana Kwame, who was indisposed and represented by Kwame Danso, an educationist said they filed for 3,326 acres and were paid GH�158,319.04 as compensation, but the commission�s record showed that they received GH�159,319.04. Beposo Ismael Wilson who claimed compensation for Beposo said he took a total of GH�621,828.13 but could not tell the commission the total acreage. Adjade Nana Kwabena Akuamoah II, Paramount Chief of Adjade in the Brong Ahafo region said he collected GH�3.518, 184.46 in five tranches when in the commission�s record he had collected GH�3.636.642. The Volta River Authority said all affected areas where compensated with crop compensation, but some of the witnesses vehemently disagreed with that assertion.