An Amasaman High Court has ordered the Lands Commission to revisit the recall and withdrawal of the cancellation of a Land Title Certificate belonging to the late Edmund Nii Aryee Armah, because its earlier action was “unjust and unfair.”
The Court Order in Suit No. E12/AHC/19/21, however renders as useless, all documents Lawrence Acquah is holding over parcels of a disputed land at North Kwabenya.
The facts of the matter as released is that the late Edmund Nii Aryee Armah acquired 176 acres of land from Odai Ntow family at North Kwabenya and begun the registration process.
It emerged that, he had also sub-leased portions of the said land at North Kwabenya to third parties from 1993 until 2011when Lawrence Acquah (Interested Party) acquired his lease at Katapor from a different family.
Lawrence Acquah then secured some documents and in the event of that, his grantors sued the grantors of the Applicant (Clarence Armah) who joined the case at the time to support the Defendants with registered documents, and presented documents showing that the location of the disputed land as North Kwabenya whilst that of the Interested Party (Lawrence Acquah) as Katapor.
It also emerged that Lawrence Acquah was using one Samuel K Bossu’s documents which was believed to be forged, claiming it was purchased from the Applicants.
Meanwhile, Lawrence Acquah managed to convince the Land Commission into accepting his documents for which the Commission wrote to the Applicant (Clarence Armah) to bring his documents for cancellation.
The Land Commission (Respondent) on April 20, 2021 wrote to the Applicant ordering him to surrender her Land Certificate No. GA61650 and calling for the cancellation of the Land Title Certificate.
Meanwhile, Counsel for Applicant argued that the order from the Lands Commission is irrational and not supported by any law.
Also, they indicated that the call for the cancellation of the Land Title Certificate of Edmund Nii Aryee Armah constitutes a determination on the validity of the title of the said Applicant’s predecessors hence, an act which is the sole preserve of the courts.
The Court presided over by His Lordship Justice Emmanuel Bart-Plange Brew in its ruling on October 15, 2021 said the Lands Commission has power to recall land certificates for rectification and even cancellation but the manner in which the land commission has acceded to the interested party’s (Lawrence Acquah) petition appears unjust as the interested party acquired his land at a later time from a different grantor family who had no clue of graphic evidence that their land had been compromised for over 20 years until the interested party had a second interference with his lease from one Samuel Bosso.
Meanwhile, the Applicant (Clarence Armah) denied any sub-lease to the said Samuel Boso.
In view of that, the Court asked “which land did the Lands Commission issue a Land Title Certificate to the late Edmund Nii Aryee Armah, in respect of and then getting to know the pendency of the suit in 2019 between the grantors of Interested Party and the Applicant then sought to recall it for cancellation.”
The Court held that the 176 acres of land granted to Applicant by Odai Ntow family is not captured in the suit between them and Naa Hansen Family as argued.
The Court also indicated that, “what has Applicant’s 176 acres of land acquired from Odai Ntow family in 1993, got to do with Interested Party’s 23.02 acres land from Naa Hansen family when both have site plans prepared by competent surveyors?”
With the available evidence before the Court, it ruled that the Lands Commission did not do their work well and shouldn’t have gone ahead with the recall of Applicant’s Land Title Certificate for cancellation until the land suit no. LD/1235/2019 between the Interested Party and Nii Armah Tetteh and 4 Others is determined.
“Application is allowed for Lands Commission to revisit the recall and withdraw the cancellation as it is unjust and unfair to the Applicant,” the Court ruled.
In an interview with the Applicant after the ruling, he indicated that the current ruling gives ample evidence of the fact that all document in possession of the Interested party (Lawrence Acquah) is null and void.
According to him, Lawrence’s petition to the Land Title was all done from 2019 till now and that they never heard, seen or had any knowledge of Lawrence until 2019.
He urged the general public not to do business with Lawrence Acquah regarding the parcels of land in North Kwabenya.