Waakrom demands compensation from VRA

farmers and land owners at Waakrom in the Central Region say their livelihood is under threat following the failure of the Volta River Authority (VRA) to compensate them for turning its high tension lines through their properties.

This is in spite of several reminders to the VRA to fulfill its part of the deal to enable the people to sustain their livelihood.

Ebusuapanin Kwame Acquah-Aikins, who led a delegation of farmers and affected landowners to the office of the Daily Graphic in Cape Coast, called on the VRA to “take the necessary steps to pay the compensation due us.”

High tension lines

According to Mr Acquah-Aikins around 2003, the VRA came to inform the residents that it was about to install new high tension lines in the area and indicated its readiness to compensate owners of the affected homes and farmlands.

He said the authority asked owners of the affected vast lands to show proof of ownership by documenting the lands.

“We therefore employed the services of surveyors to produce site plans for the affected lands” he stressed adding that “after that we engaged the services of solicitors who guided us to submit the documents in 2013.”

VRA surveyors

He said after the documents had been submitted, the VRA came down with their own surveyors to verify and authenticate “what we earlier on submitted to them.

“It is sad that after going through all these troubles, the VRA has refused to acknowledge our letters and reminders to them to the chagrin of our elders,” Mr Acquah-Aikins intimated.

Petition

The Daily Graphic is in possession of letters written to the Executive Director, VRA, by the solicitors of the elders, “Adastra” chambers, on September 19, 2013 and which was followed by a reminder, all of which, they say were ignored by the VRA.

The first letter said inter alia “I write for and on behalf of the Twidan Royal family of Waakrom, headed by Ebusuapanin Kwame Acquah-Aikins hereinafter referred to as my client.”

Compensation

It said “My instructions are that your outfit is paying out compensation to property owners whose lands have been affected by the high tension lines passing through their lands.”

“However, to give you a better picture, I have attached the plan of the landed property of my client. It is my hope that your early response to this letter would gladden the heart of my client” the letter stated.

In the second letter dated January 30, 2015, it said in part: ”I refer to my letter on the above subject matter addressed to you dated 19th August, 2013 attached for easy reference.”

The letter said “according to my client on receipt of my letter above referred, your office acting per your officers visited the site and took the necessary information needed for the  processing of the  compensation due to my client; but all be it, despite calls on you, no word had been  received from you relating to the compensation due them. This letter is therefore, to serve as a reminder to you to take the necessary steps to pay the compensation due them.”

When contacted via telephone last Wednesday, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the VRA, Mr Kirk Kwofie, confirmed the story but explained that efforts were being made to compensate the affected people.