THE crusade embarked upon by elected assembly members, concerned citizens and residents of Sekondi Takoradi to stop the sale of the Kasuarina belt has floundered.

This is as a result of the eventual sale of the land in question by the Lands Commission (LC), which turned deaf ears to the crusade embarked upon to stop the sale.

The land has eventually been sold to Mechanical Lloyd, to the dismay of the elected assembly members and residents of Sekondi-Takoradi.

The Kasuarina belt is the only open space stretching from the Vodafone Ghana offices to the former Pioneer Tobacco Company, and the residents have put up stiff resistance to stop the sale of the parcel of land.

The residents, led by Mr. Francis Eghan, popularly known as 'Abate, have managed to collate a total of 800 signatories kicking against the sale.

The resident submitted the signatories in a petition to the Regional Minister, Paul Evans Aidoo, to use his good office to stop the sale of the land, but he failed to act.

Mr. Francis Eghan confirmed to this file that they were aware that the LC had secretly sold out the land in question, but said they were not perturbed.

This was because they are going to prevent the buyer of the land in question from using the land.

Again, they are also going to resort to court action to reverse the sale of the land to Mechanical.

Before the sale of the land to Mechanical Lloyd, the elected assembly members, who make up the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA), had moved a motion to discuss the matter and eventually stop the sale, but before they could succeed in doing that, the Lands Commission sold out the land.

This move has incensed the elected assembly members, who have vowed to use every means to reverse the sale.

For now, Mechanical Lloyd has, in a letter copied to all firms situated near the land that it had purchased the area, and as such, would be developing it, and called for cooperation from the firms.

Apart from the elected assembly members and the residents group, who have stood up against the sale of the land, the original owners of the land had in a press conference advised against the sale without their consent.