President Mahama has assured the military that government will ensure lands belonging to the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) are not encroached upon or sold to individuals and private investors.

There have been allegations that lands belonging to the military were being sold to private developers but GAF has refuted those allegations, describing them as false and half-truths.

The President, who is also the Commander-in-chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, said government is committed to pre-empting sald of GAF lands, adding proposed housing projects that will be undertaken by the security forces in the country on a Public-Private Partnersip (PPP) agreement will be done in conjunction with the relevant authorities.

“We have discussed the proposed Public-Private Partnerships that the various security services have intended to do and asked them to work with the Lands Commission, Ghana Institute of Surveyors and the Land Evaluation Board in order that under the PPPs we get value for money”, the President said.

President Mahama was speaking at the commissioning of a 22-bed self-contained officers' mess in the Western Region city of Takoradi.

The new officers' apartment forms part of government's intervention adopted to address the accommodation challenges of GAF.

President Mahama assured that similar housing projects are being constructed for the various security agencies to ensure their shelter needs are addressed.

“I want to reiterate government’s commitment to ensuring that the morale and welfare of our personnel in uniform are well catered for to enable them perform their constitutional mandate effectively,” he said.

The new 22-bed apartment has been named after the Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Michael Sampson-Oje for his dedication and contribution to professionalism within the military.

Air Vice Marshal Sampson-Oje called for good maintenance culture amongst service personnel to prolong the lifespan of the building.

The building is a PPP between the Government of Ghana and Paragon Company Limited.