A USA-based Lawyer John Akpalu plans to sue VRA for destroying his Old Apaaso 12 acres of maize farm.
20 personnel of the Volta River Authority (VRA) at Akosombo together with some security personnel are alleged to have destroyed 12 acres of maize farm at Old Apaaso.
The farm which belongs to Lawyer John Akpalu, a USA-based Ghanaian lawyer was destroyed by these VRA officials accompanied by four military officials on Thursday, November 2, 2023, at Asegya – Old Apaaso.
Officials of VRA stormed the farm site with guns and cutlasses in a Nissan Mini Van vehicle with registration number GV 1946-14 with the inscription AKUSE TRAINING CENTER embossed on its side.
According to an eyewitness they cut down 12 acres of corn farm which had only 3 weeks to mature into fresh corn without any notification to the farm managers.
The owner of the farm, Lawyer John Akpalu, who has been growing corn on his farm at Asegya-Old Apaaso
near Akosombo shares that, his main motivation was to grow corn not to feed his family in the USA but to support the needy and other voluntary activities in Ghana.
He is therefore in a state of utter shock when news got to him that his 12 acres of corn had been completely destroyed by personnel from VRA.
The irony is that, VRA had not given them any prior notice of ownership interest in the land or erected any trespass warning sign on the
land. They have also not been served any court restriction order or notice and that makes it very bizarre to comprehend.
In this era when the government is encouraging private investment, Lawyer Akpalu finds this situation highly unconscionable that his idea of growing corn to augment Ghana’s food stock thereby helping us to achieve food security would be met with such callousness.
He avers that he had planned that when the corn matures after three weeks, “I intended to donate to people who have lost their livelihoods in the recent flood brought upon them by VRA’s negligent management of the spillage from the Volta and Kpong Dams. This is heartbreaking and sad at the same time. If Ghanaians wonder why investors are not rushing to Ghana, it is such lawlessness”, Lawyer Akpalu emphasized.
Nana Otieku Amoah Asare III, the registered owner and custodian of the Old Apaaso lands and the lessor, has explained that VRA only required a 280-foot buffer from the Volta River. “The corn farm
is 1,600 feet from the river and I find the situation very difficult to comprehend”, Nana said.
Meanwhile, Lawyer John Akpalu is in the process of taking VRA to court to seek compensatory and punitive damages to deter such lawless behavior from reoccurring in the future. The chief is also contacting his lawyers to obtain an injunction to prevent VRA from taking such lawless action in the future.
