The Tema High Court B, presided over by Justice Emmanuel Ankamah, an Appeals Court judge sitting as a High Court judge, has dismissed an Application for Injunction initiated by two residents of Ada, Nene Amartey Apedo Ayornu popularly known as Libi Wornor and Nene Tetteh Abledu Ayornu, Stool Father and Head of Family of the Terkpebiawe Clan of Ada, seeking to restrain the McDan Group of Companies and its salt-mining subsidiary based in Ada, Electrochem Ghana Limited, from developing and operating the 12,428 acre portion of Songor concession.
The legal action which was initiated by the plaintiffs on Friday 22nd October, 2021 was dismissed by the court on Wednesday 18th January, 2023 for lacking merit.
In the writ, the plaintiffs prayed the court to declare the title to the Songor Lagoon and the lands measuring approximately 12,428 acres specified in a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) made on 19th September 2019 between the McDan Group and the President of the Ada Traditional Council and others as a Tekperbiawe family land.
The plaintiffs also contended that the 19th September 2019 MoA did not confer on the McDan Group any valid grant of any interest over the lagoon and the adjoining lands because it was not a grant by the head and principal elders of the Tepkerbiawe family of Ada.
According to the writ, Messrs. Amartey Apedo Ayornu and Nene Tetteh Abledu Ayornu also sought a declaration by the court that all activities of the defendants involving salt mining from the lagoon and occupation of any part of the land adjoining it amounted to trespass.
The two asked for damages against the defendants for trespass and injuries caused to members of the Tekperbiawe family and also pleaded with the court to order the defendants to render accounts to the plaintiffs for all income made from the mining of salt from the lagoon from the first day of their trespass on the lagoon and its adjoining lands until the determination of the case under consideration.
Aside from the award of cost against the defendants, the plaintiffs also prayed the court to grant a perpetual injunction restraining the McDan Group and Electrochem Ghana Limited, their agents, assigns and workmen from engaging in any further acts of continuous trespass and mining of salt from the lagoon or occupying the adjoining lands until the final determination of the case.
Contrary to the expectation of the plaintiffs, the Court at its sitting on Wednesday 18th January, 2023, dismissed the application and the plaintiffs’ claims as lacking merit but awarded no cost against the plaintiffs as demanded by the defendants’ counsel.
Reacting to the ruling by the court, Counsel for the defendants, Alhaji Farouk Seidu Esq. of IBADA Chambers, expressed contentment about the outcome and noted that he wasn’t surprised about the position of the court since the plaintiffs’ claims lacked substance.
