Accra: The Ashanti Muslim Women Association, a faith-based organisation in Kumasi, has petitioned President John Mahama and Parliament to intervene and stop the takeover of its land located at Buoban in Kumasi.

It accused Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, the Minister of the Interior and the Member of Parliament for the Asawase Constituency, of forcefully taking over their land for government projects without duly consulting and compensating them.

In a petition filed on Tuesday at the Jubilee House and Parliament, the association appealed to the president to immediately halt all construction activities and order an independent review of the land’s ownership status.

The group says it acquired the land for educational and vocational projects, with a particular focus on young women in the Asawase community.

According to the petition, the only discussions ever held about releasing any portion of the land took place voluntarily in 2015, when members considered making part of the site available for a proposed nursing and physician assistant training college.

The group noted that those talks were never formalised, and no executive instrument, compensation process or formal acquisition request has since been presented.

The women say construction began without their knowledge or consent, and that when members visited the site to protest, the minister publicly stated the land had been taken and would not be returned.

“When a Minister of State publicly declares that land has been taken and will not be returned, without reference to constitutional procedure, it creates fear,” the petition read.

In an interview, Zainab Owusu recounted the sacrifices women made to purchase the land.

“Our grandmothers had to sell their properties, both personal and family properties. Some gave out everything they owned in their businesses to own this land for the sake of Islam,” she said.

She asserted that when the government began its project without consulting the group, the group were getting ready to begin theirs.

“Mubarak came and started a project out of nowhere. So, we stood up to say no, and he said, because he has power, there’s nothing we can do about it,” she alleged.

She added that the women had to travel overnight from Kumasi to Accra during Ramadan to press their case.

“It’s not easy for us… we hope the government hears our cries and comes to our help and saves us from this oppression,” she said, urging intervention from the presidency at Jubilee House.

In their formal demands, they insist the issue is not opposition to development, but what they describe as the use of political power to override lawful ownership.