Banda chiefs not happy about exclusion from Board
Banda Ahenkro (B/A), July 29, Ghanadot/GNA
– Banda Traditional Council, has expressed worry that it has
no representation on the Board for the Bui Power Authority
(BPA), which was inaugurated by the Minister of Energy Dr
Joe Oteng-Adjei last week.
“We are not happy about this development because the
Traditional Council own the greatest portion of the land for
the dam project and we cannot fathom as to why we must be
excluded from such an important body”, Okokyeredom Kwadwo
Sito, Omanhene of the Area, said at an emergency meeting
that was attended by 28 out of 37 chiefs in the area, at
Banda Ahenkro.
He said in 1971, the Council suffered from a similar
situation when land for the Bui National Park was acquired
adding that because the Council did not have any
representation on the Board of the Park, only five per cent
of compensation had so far been paid.
Okokyeredom Sito said “Banda traditional council must be
represented on the BPA Board as no one else can represent
us. We surely cannot agree to this raw treatment meted to
indigenes of the area as posterity will blame us for such
lapse”.
He called on the authorities to involve the chiefs in
deliberations on the Bui Dam Project.
Okokyeredom Sito stressed that “The way our lands are being
utilized we envisage that there will come a time when our
people will not have land for farming and other economic
activities. We have had the experience of the Bui National
Park and we do not want a repetition of this”.
He said the Council had already appealed to Vice President
John Mahama during his recent visit to the site of the
project and President John Evans Atta Mills when he was in
the area as presidential candidate to campaign for Election
2008, to involve the chiefs in discussions on the project.
Okokyeredom Sito said: “The area does not lack the requisite
personnel to represent us. We have men with the expertise to
be on any committee to seek the interest of the people”.
GNA
