The New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) parliamentary candidate in the La Dadekotopon constituency, Vincent Odotei Sowah, has assured agitating youth of La he is committed to working to retrieve their lands from government.
Mr. Odotei Sowah, who will be looking to unseat the incumbent MP for the area, Nii Amasah Namoale, also said a desired election outcome that would see both him and the NPP Flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo triumph in the polls would not affect his efforts in that regard.
Aggrieved youth of the La Traditional Area have accused the John Mahama-led government of neglecting Ga-Dangme people and allowing the Ghana Armed forces to illegally acquire their lands.
A group calling itself the Coalition of La Youth Association, organised a press conference on Monday alleging that the Ghana Armed Forces arbitrary destroyed farmlands without providing compensation and stole their lands under the guise of creating buffer zones.
Noting that the La youth would do their best not to antagonise government on Eyewitness News, Mr. Odotei Sowah declared that “we must make sure we are not cheated off our heritage… we must make sure that what is laid out in the constitution in terms of how heritage is managed and appropriated is adhered to strictly.”
He also downplayed suggestions that an NPP government would affect his efforts as he had led the La Youth to retieve the La Pleasure Beach resort, among other lands, from the erstwhile John Kufuor NPP government.
“The proof of the pudding is that we wrestled the La Beach and other lands from the state when Kufuor was in power and I was the president of the La Youth Association, so I have done it before.”
“One thing I will be committed to is to ensure that we take control of our heritage in a proper civilised manner through the rule of law to ensure that what is due us, we get it,” Mr. Odotei Sowah concluded on the matter.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana