Authorities of Okuapemman Senior High School in the Eastern Region have expressed dismay over government’s apparent disinterest in a land dispute between the school and one Nana Asimah Aboagye and his family from Larteh.
The school fears it could lose almost all of its land acquired through executive instrument by government in 1960 after an Accra High court allocated 405 out of a total 435 acres of the land to Nana Aboagye.
Authorities say the 37.6 acres left is woefully in adequate to accommodate the school and its development agenda.
The Okuapemman Senior High School since its establishment on February,8,1957 acquired the land it currently occupies through executive instrument and has expanded over the years.
Both the school’s first headmaster, Barrister Opoku Agyemang and the Ghana Education Trust have invested in developing the school since 1960, school authorities say.
However, the school’s vision of not only creating an institution to bring education and training to the youth of Akuapem but students from all over the country may be in jeopardy.
President of the past student’s association of the school, Nii Teiko Tagoe, sharing his frustration noted that “the land is being encroached upon based on a judgement that was given in favour of one family from Larteh and the issue did not come to the notice of the school authorities until they started encroachment from behind the school fields.
“And the ruling of the court then was that out of the 435 acres that the school had registered and purchased through the executive instrument, only 36.7 acres legally belong to the school. Meanwhile the school properties currently occupy 139 acres of the land, which means almost all the facilities will even be taken over if the judgement is not looked at”.
Already tombs have been erected on portions of the land.
Chairman of the Parent Teacher Association, Nii Ayittey Hammond, says government intervention in the matter is long overdue.
“We expect government to study the ruling and if necessary, do all it can in its power to reclaim the land. Because if this land is not secured for the school it means there is no Okuapemman school”, he appealed.