Veteran Soldiers Given Orders To Quit Barracks   02-Mar-2013

Related Stories     More than 300 retired soldiers and their families currently occupying the old Kaladan Barracks in Tamale have been given eviction orders by the Northern Regional office of the Lands Commission. A directive from the Lands Commission gave the tenants up to the end of February this year to vacate the place to give way for a redevelopment scheme to be implemented in the Tamale metropolis. Also affected by the eviction notice are all people occupying areas around the Kaladan Park and some parts of Zogbeli and Aboabo. The notice of eviction letter, dated January 29, 2013 and signed by the Northern Regional Lands Commission Officer, Mr Justice Morgan, stated, “The Lands Commission, in collaboration with the Department of Town and Country Planning, the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly, relevant state and traditional institutions, is implementing a comprehensive redevelopment scheme on the old Kaladan Barracks.” The reasons for the redevelopment scheme, as stated in the letter, were to realise the potential of Kaladan Barracks lands through proper planning, decongesting the central business district of Tamale, making the area a first-class commercial hub of Tamale and gateway to the metropolis and giving the city a facelift. The letter has been duly served on all the affected persons, the Daily Graphic can confirm, ordering them “to vacate the land within thirty days from February 1, 2013”. “The commission, after the said date, will have no option than to use all legitimate means to eject any person or group of persons who fail to vacate the land,” it added. But the Tamale District Chairman of the Veterans Association of Ghana (VAG), Major M.J.G. Alhassan (retd), described the intended action by the Lands Commission as callous, insensitive and inhuman. He said the veterans and their families were not against any redevelopment exercise but were only asking the authorities concerned to resettle them somewhere if they found the exercise very necessary. He said it was sad that veterans who spent their youthful lives serving this country, even at a peril to their lives, were being treated with scorn and disdain now that their services were no longer needed, adding, “I hope the young soldiers who are currently in active service are watching.” When contacted, the Northern Regional Director of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Mr Stephen Azantilow, said the commission was investigating a complaint it received from Major Alhassan on February 20, 2013 on the plight of the veterans. He said if its investigation proved that the veterans had been treated unfairly, their right to shelter, which was a fundamental human right guaranteed by the 1992 Constitution, would be deemed to have been violated. That, he said, would compel CHRAJ take the necessary steps to fight for the right of the veterans. Officials of the Northern Regional Lands Commission declined comment when contacted for clarification on the matter but the Board Chairman, Alhaji Alhassan Ishmail, in a telephone interview, accused the retired soldiers of trying to use their individual interests to stifle the development of the state. He said a series of meetings that were held with the military, VAG members and other stakeholders came to the conclusion that the redevelopment scheme should be carried out and expressed surprise that Major Alhassan, who was present in all those meetings, would now turn round and cry foul. He said the military, and for that matter VAG, had no entitlement to the land in question.