An Estate Developer, Consika Limited has dragged the Municipal Chief Executive Officer of the Korle Klottey Municipal in the Greater Accra Region, Samuel James Nii Adjei Tawiah, and two others to Court for trespassing on its land and causing damages to it by giving it to another Real Estate Developer, which was initially sold to them by the then Accra Metropolitan Assembly, [AMA].
The Plaintiff, Consika Limited, which owns the land located at a portion of Asylum Down now called Tudu has 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 by asking the court to restrain them from going on the land and also paying for the damages caused on the land.
Background
The writ indicated that the Plaintiff [Consika Limited] 2014 found a piece of land with kiosks on it opposite the State Transport Company (STC) transport yard in Tudu then called Asylum Down, Accra, 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.
Thereafter, Plaintiff constructed offices for the Greater Accra Regional Office of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) at the request of the AMA and also rehabilitated a building for the Metro GES in Tudu at the request of the AMA.
After complying with the demands of the AMA, the AMA granted Plaintiff a renewable 25-year lease of the land described in the schedule herein on 25th August 2014 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.
The Plaintiff also constructed an asbestos sheet fence along the eastern boundary of the land particularly where the temporary structures are located and also started negotiations with the occupants of the aforementioned temporary structures to afford them ample time to vacate the land.
However, 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 regularize the previous grant of the land made by the AMA.
In a letter referenced KoKMA.07/10/17 dated 4th April 2023 addressed to the Plaintiff, KoKMA acting by the MCE, Samuel James Nii Adjei Tawiah approved the regularization of the land allocation to the Plaintiff by the A.M.A which said piece or parcel of land is more particularly described in the schedule herein.
In its regularization letter, KoKMA demanded a regularization premium of three hundred thousand Ghana Cedis (GHS 300,000.00) from Plaintiff for a 50-year lease of the land described in the schedule herein.
The Plaintiff accepted the aforesaid regularization offer by letter and proceeded to pay an amount of two hundred thousand Ghana Cedis (GHS 200,000.00) to the KoKMA as part payment of the agreed three hundred thousand Ghana Cedis (GHS 300,000.00) regularization premium.
The Plaintiff also issued a cheque of one hundred thousand Ghana Cedis (GHS 100,000.00) to KoKMA being payment of the balance of the regularization premium.
But in somewhere, 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..
The Plaintiff confronted the Director of the Base Estate Company and demanded them to vacate the Plaintiff’s land but they refused to vacate claiming ownership of the land by virtue of a purported grant made to them by KoKMA acting by Municipal Chief Executive.
The Plaintiff states that having demanded and received payment albeit a regularization premium from Plaintiff, KoKMA had no interest in any portion of Plaintiff’s land to pass onto the Director of the Base Estate Company.
However, the Plaintiff lodged several complaints against the Director of the Base Estate Company, Mr. Jonathan Odartey Baddo, to KoKMA but KoKMA refused to stop them from building on a portion of the Plaintiff’s land.
‘’The building that the Base Estate Company is constructing on Plaintiff’s land would block Plaintiff’s 4-story building along Accra Technical University Road and thereby reduce the commercial value of the shops in Plaintiff’s existing 4-story building’’ the writ stated.
Due to that Plaintiff states that the Defendants FRAUDULENTLY granted a portion of the Plaintiff’s land to the Base Estate Company.
Court Declaration
In the course of that, Consika Limited has filed an injunction asking the court to order restraining the Defendants by themselves or by their agents, privies, assigns, and all those claiming through the Defendants from having anything to do with the Plaintiff’s land except with the express permission of the Plaintiff.
The Plaintiff is also asking the court to recover possession of the portion of its land trespassed to by the Defendants and also order to demolish any unwanted structures erected on the Plaintiff’s land by the Defendants with the costs of removal to be borne by the Defendants.
In the writ filed by Consika Limited’s Lawyer Anthony Lartey is also seeking a declaration that having accepted full payment for the land and having executed a lease in favor of the Plaintiff, the title of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and by extension the Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly (KoKMA) to the land described in the schedule herein passed to the Plaintiff and the AMA and KoKMA have no more title to the land to pass onto the Defendant.
They also further seek that the court will cite the Defendants for fraud against the Plaintiff by granting a portion of the Plaintiff’s land to the MCE, whereas they acted in bad faith when they purportedly granted a portion of the Plaintiff’s land to the Base Company, as well as awarding a cost including legal fees on full recovery basis per the Ghana Bar Association scale of fees.
