Trinity Theological Seminary worried about encroachers

The President and the student body of the Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon, have expressed concern about the encroachment of part of their land by private developers.

According to them, the encroachers were developing the land at a fast rate despite a court injunction preventing anybody from developing the land.

Aside that, they said the developers through their activities, had caused destruction to the school's properties such as breaking down their wall, fish pond and cut down trees that have been planted to provide shade in the seminary.

They said several appeals to the police to enforce the injunction have fallen on deaf ears and are, therefore, calling on the government, the Ministry of Lands and Forestry, the Ghana Police Service and the Judiciary to help enforce the court injunction.

In an interview with the President of the Seminary, Rev. Dr Cyril Fayose said, the 62 acre land, part of which the seminary is currently located, was given to them in 1961 as a gift by the then chief of La and an indenture was prepared to cover the land after the necessary customs were performed.

He said, sometime in the 1970s, the government asked permission from the seminary to construct a road from the university staff quarters to the meteorological office at Mempeasem which was granted by the seminary.

However, he said after the road construction, the land south of the road and later the north were encroached upon and attempts to stop the development yielded no results.

Rev. Dr Fayose said following that development, the seminary had a meeting with the chiefs and people of Mempeasem, the developers who bought the land together with their lawyers and the Accra Regional Surveyor of Lands where it was agreed that the seminary should be
compensated.

According to him, this was done but years later, the land that was given as compensation was also encroached upon by the chiefs and people of Mempeasem.

That caused them to send the case to court, however, the encroachers continued to develop the land even beyond the compensated land into the original land of the seminary.

"Even though there is an injunction, the people have continued to develop the land at an alarming rate to even where the school buildings are. We wish to plead with all persons who have interest in this land to desist from purchasing such land until the issue is finally settled," he added.

The Secretary of the Students Representative Council (SRC), Mr John Adu Asare, who was upset about the activities of the encroachers, said recently, the developers demolished their KVIP and even though they reported to the police, nothing had been done about it.

He hinted of plans by the school to build hostels, lecture theatre, among others on the land in future, adding that if they allowed the encroachers to continue to take their land, they would not have it when they want to start those projects.

He said if the situation was allowed to continue, there would not be a place to train priest in the country in future.

The Trinity Theological Seminary is the first seminary to be established in the country. The Methodist Church Ghana, the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana, together founded it in 1942 as a ministerial training institution in Wesley College, Kumasi. Later, the joint Anglican Diocesan Council in Ghana, and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church joined the other three churches. In 1946, the then Trinity College moved to Legon, Accra near the University of Ghana.