The Minister for Roads and Highways, Governs Kwame Agbodza, has warned people who allegedly persuade property owners affected by road projects to reject government compensation offers in exchange for promises of much larger payouts.
Mr Agbodza said the practice was delaying major road projects and increasing costs to the state. He also disclosed that the government is considering referring at least two individuals to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) for investigation.
The minister made the comments on Friday, August 21, after inspecting several ongoing road projects in Kumasi.
He said government agencies and surveyors assess properties affected by road construction, determine their value and calculate compensation in line with the law.
However, Mr Agbodza said some individuals later approach affected property owners and encourage them to turn down the official offer. According to the minister, those individuals claim they can obtain compensation worth four or five times more than the amount assessed by government surveyors.
He said the advice sometimes leads property owners to seek court injunctions to stop projects while compensation disputes are considered.
“We are also taking the opportunity to appeal to some citizens of ours who, anytime we do a project like this and the relevant agencies go to take the inventory, evaluate, and put values on those properties for compensation under the law, some people in our country approach those people and tell them, ‘Don’t accept the values that are being given to you; we can give you four or five times the amount government is offering you,’ so they sometimes encourage the people to go to court to put an injunction on the project.
“We have lost so much money, and sometimes the projects are delayed needlessly because of the behavior of some of these people,” Mr. Agbodza said.
He appealed to those involved in what he described as such activities to stop, saying their actions were harmful to both the government and the owners of the affected properties.
The minister also questioned how compensation figures significantly above official assessments were being reached.
He pointed out that the professionals responsible for valuing properties on behalf of agencies including the Ghana Highway Authority and the Department of Urban Roads were qualified surveyors working under the relevant institutions.
“The people who value these properties from the Ghana Highway Authority, Urban Roads, and others are the same surveyors and went to the same school,” he said.
Mr Agbodza said the government was examining the possibility of reporting two people to EOCO.
“We are looking at the possibility of reporting two of those people to EOCO for investigations,” he stated.
The minister praised people whose properties had been affected by road projects and who had cooperated with the authorities by following the compensation process.
He restated the government’s commitment to paying compensation in accordance with the law. At the same time, he urged affected property owners to be cautious when approached by individuals promising substantially higher payments than the official assessments.
