The government has stated that failure by claimants to settle their differences is hampering the release of lands to their owners. The Minister of Lands, Forestry and Mines, Mrs Esther Obeng-Dapaah, told the Daily Graphic that in several cases two families claimed ownership to the released land and indicated that claimants, still disagreed with each other over who was the rightful owner of the land. Besides, she said, in the situation where one family claimed ownership of the land, there were disagreements in the family as to who should be in charge of the land. Mrs Obeng-Dapaah said the failure of the claimants to settle their differences had made it difficult for the government to sign memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with them. She said it was unfortunate that only one MoU was signed between the government and owners of compulsorily acquired state land since the declaration of the government's decision to release the lands to their owners two months ago. The lands in dispute include the West Africa Secondary School, Adenta, the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), Kwabenya; and the site for the Odorgono Secondary School at Awoshie. Mrs Obeng-Dapaah said there was a list of all families and stools qualified to get back their compulsorily acquired land. However, she said, the list kept on changing, since some families and stools challenged those claims occasionally. That situation, according to Mrs. Obeng-Dapaah, compelled her outfit to constantly update the list. She appealed to the various claimants to resolve their differences to facilitate the release of the lands back to them. Mrs Obeng-Dapaah debunked claims that the release of the compulsorily acquired state lands back to their owners just before the election was a political ploy to win support from the people of Accra and other areas. She said the decision to release the lands was taken by the Cabinet in 2006, which was in fulfilment of a promise made by President John Agyekum Kufuor to return part of those lands to the original owners. Source: Daily Graphic