An estate developer, Consika Limited, has dragged the Municipal Chief Executive Officer (MCE) of the Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly in the Greater Accra Region, Samuel James Nii Adjei Tawiah, and two others to court for trespassing on his land and causing damage to it.
The estate developer claims also that the MCE gave the land to another real estate developer, which was initially sold to him by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA).
The plaintiff, Consika Limited, which owns the land located at a portion of Asylum Down now called Tudu, having sued the defendants, the Base Estate Company, its Director, Jonathan Odartey Baddo, the MCE, Samuel James Nii Adjei Tawiah, and Mr. Baisie Emmanuel, the Coordinating Director of Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly, further prays the court to restrain them from going on the land and to pay for the damages caused on the land.
According to the writ, the plaintiff [Consika Limited] in 2014 found a piece of land with kiosks on it opposite the State Transport Company (STC) yard in Tudu, then called Asylum Down, and was interested in purchasing it for its business because of the location of the land.
The plaintiff made inquiries into the ownership of the land and was told that it belonged to the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), and got in touch with the AMA which confirmed that the land was its property.
The AMA offered to lease the land to the plaintiff on agreed conditions, which the plaintiff accepted, and as part of the agreed conditions, the estate developer constructed a fully furnished two-storey office block for AMA to house its education unit at Tudu.
After complying with the demands of the AMA, the AMA granted the plaintiff a renewable 25-year lease of the land and also executed an indenture covering the land in favor of plaintiff to evidence the grant.
Immediately after the grant, the plaintiff entered into possession of the land and constructed a four-storey structure on a portion of the land for shops, leaving an adjoining portion undeveloped because there were temporary structures on it whose occupants required ample time to vacate.
In April 2023, the Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly (KoKMA) assumed jurisdiction over the land granted to the plaintiff by the AMA, whereas the MCE, Samuel James Nii Adjei Tawiah, and Mr. Baisie Emmanuel, the Coordinating Director called on the plaintiff and promised to regularise the previous grant of the land made by the AMA.
In a letter dated April 4, 2023, addressed to the plaintiff, KoKMA acting by the MCE, Samuel James Nii Adjei Tawiah approved the regularisation of the land allocated to the plaintiff by the AMA.
The plaintiff accepted the aforesaid regularisation offer by letter and proceeded to pay an amount of GH¢200,000 to the KoKMA as part payment of the agreed GH¢300,000 regularisation premium.
The plaintiff also issued a cheque of GH¢100,000 to KoKMA, being payment of the balance of the regularisation premium.
However, in October 2023, Mr. Jonathan Odartey Baddo, Director of the Base Estate Company, forcefully entered into a portion of the plaintiff’s land along the Tudu to Accra Technical University (ATTU) Road, which is opposite the STC yard, and broke down the plaintiff’s asbestos sheets fence and started digging a building foundation on the said land.
Source: Daniel Bampoe