A leader of the Ga-Dangme Youth, Prince Derek Adjei says the remains of the late UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has been buried on an illegally acquired land.
According to him, the piece of land was forcefully taken from the La Traditional authority by the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF).
Mr Kofi Annan, Ghana’s illustrious son died on August 18 aged 80 at his home in Switzerland after a short illness and was laid to rest on Thursday September 13, after a state funeral attended by some world leaders, diplomats and traditional authorities among others.
Annan, was buried at the new Military Cemetery at Burma Camp and was accorded military honours including a 17 gun- salute.
But speaking on Kasapa News Prince Derek Adjei who has been in the forefront of the fight for the restoration of illegally taken La lands to its rightful owners, slammed government for allowing Kofi Annan , a well respected man across the globe to be buried on a land which is a subject of huge controversy.
“The land doesn’t belong to the Military; it belongs to the people of La. The Military took the vast land from the people of La illegally. After the Military stealing the land, the La Mantse (Chief) has written two petitions to the President over the issue, but several months after, President Akufo Addo has not even accorded the Chief any respect and courtesy to respond to his petition, yet people are being buried on the land. That aberration must stop now and the state must start being responsible and respectful to traditional authorities of Ghana not just in Accra.
“The use of the land by the Military for a cemetery is not even authorized by the District assembly where the President has his own representative. After stealing the land, they’ve deliberately decided to bury very important personalities the likes of Kofi Annan, J.H Mensah, Prof. Atukwei Okai and former Vice President Amissah-Arthur there so that whenever we the indigenes speak about the stealing of that land, it will sound as though we are speaking against the families of these dead prominent Ghanaians. This is unfair to the people of La. Our lands must be returned to us immediately,” Prince Derek Adjei fumed.
