Nii Lamptey writes: Chop chop in the house of the Lord: Trinity Theological Seminary pastors grab residents’ property

Reflecting on the assertion by Martin Luther King Jnr that, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” this article is inspired to name and shame any act of unfair treatment against another fellow citizen.

Therefore, it worth noting that, the ongoing broad day light robbery under the disguise of the clergy collar being perpetrated by the leadership and Reverend Ministers of the Trinity Theological Seminary (Trinity College) located at East Legon, Mempehusem is an eyesore, an event that deserves all unqualified condemnation by well-meaning Ghanaians. As people, we cannot sit and watch unconcerned, some elements of greedy, selfish individuals and cheats who have nicodemously penetrated the church and using the name of God and the church to rob off people’s hard earned monies and properties thereby amassing private wealth for themselves.

Background
The Trinity Theological Seminary was established in 1942. The land on which the college is established was given to the churches of God as a FREE GIFT and it was not until 18 of October 2006 the Trinity College has no official document showing that this land is a gift from the Chiefs and Elders of Mpehuasem and the Sanshie family of La after the college having been on this land for well over 80 years. It is important to note that, not a single pesewa was paid by the College in consideration of the gift of these several acres of land. Over these years, the college has developed structures mainly on its protected lands with a clearly demarcated fence wall built to prevent encroachments in and around the seminary boundaries.

Flowing from this, the allodial owners of the land who are the chiefs and elders of Mempehusem and the Sanshie family started selling the undeveloped portions of the Land outside the protected lands of the College to private developers and property owners after President Agyekum Kuffour in 2008 in respect of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and newspapers publications declared that all undeveloped lands taken from the Ga people be returned to them. Consequently, private developers and property owners therefore acquired several contiguous or surrounding plots of lands from the allodial owners at prices ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 USD.
All manner of persons, the poor, the rich and the average have all through the help of the chiefs and elders of Mempehusem settled on these lands for decades. Schools, churches, businesses and other commercial and social activities have sprung up in these surrounding areas of the Trinity College.
Current Situation
Granted, it is absolutely preposterous to fathom for a moment that, these priests who have benefited enormously from the generosity of the people of mempehusem for the work of God, now have turned this kindness into gold-digging venture exploiting huge sums of monies from residents in the contiguous or adjoining lands outside the boundaries of the College. This thievery began when the leadership of Professor Johnson Kwabena Asamoah-Gyedu (The President) in cahoots with the Lands Commission and with the aid of one Lands Officer called Dadson, was able to secure Land Title Registration in 2022 which was deliberately created to cover these said lands outside the control of the Seminary in order give grounds to perpetuate their ulterior grand motive of cashing out monies from the residents and property owners in the neighborhood under the false pretense of the deed of gift granted to the seminary by the people of Mempehusem include those lands, however, originally not so.
By this clandestine act using the Church and the Clergy, the innocents residents in this said area have been met with untold hardships and insecurity since some have their livelihood been destroyed entirely such as a man popularly called “Brodowura” who together with his bread making equipment, the wife and children has been evicted from his own house and his property demolished by Clement Gyato and his people. Isn’t it strange that right after the demolitions of poor and innocent residents’ property under the disguise of state lands, Trinity College appears from nowhere to be claiming ownership of the said lands? It seems interesting though and definitely cannot be mere coincidence. Other landowners risk losing their lifetime investments due to the failure to atone tenancy to the Trinity College, one of them is the Brodowura who is in a heart wrenching situation yet no mercy has been shown to him by these church people.

Businessmen hiding behind the Clergy now exposed.
By referring to a recent article on this same unfortunate development, “these are the people who stand on the Pulpit and tell people to do things in order to have their right place in heaven. If they were to be asked by the chiefs and elders of Shanshie family to pay THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS for the several acres of land on which their Trinity College is situated after 80 years later for A DEED OF GIFT to be signed for them, could they afford to pay? Can you imagine that somebody gave you several acres of lands as a FREE GIFT to do your commercial business of training Pastors, both home and abroad for a fee but after registering your land to include other people’s property you have to take 3,500USD per plot to regularize the registration of parts of those plots to people who have already paid several thousands of dollars to acquire the same plots from the same allodial owners through no fault of theirs? As an institution owned by the church which operates on a free land, why don’t the mercy and kindness be accorded to residents?
Certainly, it is clear that the management of the Church College built to train Men of God rather have allowed itself to be bought and used as a conduit by greedy businessmen who have no iota of shame or conscience but stopping at nothing to make profits from the poor masses. But surely we the masses take solace in our numbers and the conviction of togetherness to defeat any form of injustice.
From a reliable source, it is a known fact that a familiar businessman has bought the integrity of the leadership of the Bible College, based on the following grounds;
That the entity used by the trinity college as agent (Hope Heights) to demand and collect the tenancy fees is owned by the businessman.
That the plan to cord off the undeveloped lands and build commercial residential apartments certainly cannot be part of the ordinary mission of the seminary but that of an unseen faces who are just interested in taking advantage of the weak and the vulnerable with the slightest opportunity.
That a resident property owner who attempted to engage the management of the Trinity Seminary, their agents and lawyers concerning his undeveloped land was told to pay one million dollars for a plot. If not greed and desire for undue enrichment why such proposal would be made to resident who has stayed on the land for two decades by the trinity college whose actual land size was gifted to them free of charge.

Conclusion
Money indeed is the root of all evil, but sadly so, the branches of this root has found their way into the church and among the clergy, to the extent that at the seminary, for the love of money, men of God at the time of their stewardship are directing indescribable hardship onto their neighbours. For the love of money, our Reverend Ministers are cashing out big time monies from businessmen and land entrepreneurs into their personal accounts at the expense of the integrity of the church and the plight of the ordinary citizen. But we shall not relent at exposing any iota of corruption, greed, injustice, selfishness and worldly desires in and around the name of God and the church.

Professor Johnson Kwabena Asamoah-Gyedu (The President) and the members of Management including their legal advisors should sit down and think properly about this if this is RIGHT BEFORE GOD to attempt to do regularization for property owners on an alleged claim of lands that were gifted to you free. It will be in no uncertain terms, a good call, to impress upon the leadership of the seminary and with good conscience, return the monies they have already collected through their landguard agent, Nii Adjetey Cornelius from the people to them and reflect on the fact that they didn't even buy the land where they are currently situated outside and different from where they are demanding atonement of tenancy, but got it FREE. They are even in the process of taking some of the undeveloped lands which some of the private developers bought from the Chiefs and Elders of East Legon to resell to other people at exorbitant prices. This is the shameful conduct of the so called men of God in our locality and must not be countenanced by people of good reasoning.

Article Written by,
Nii Adjah Lamptey
Resident, Mempehuasem
East Legon
Accra