By Julian Owusu-Abedi
The Paramount Chief of Nungua King Odaifio Welentsi III and his elders have through the Chief of Staff Mr. Frank Kofi Lewi issued a very stern warning to those who are illegally acquiring Santeo(East Legon Hills) lands from landguards and unknown developers or the face the full rigors of the Stool’s task force who will begin rounds soon to identify such culprits and bring them to book.
The Chief of Staff indicated that this stern warning has been necessitated as a result of a High Court ruling in favor of the Nungua Stool in respect of Santeo(East Legon Hills) Lands in a matter where an illegal claimant called David Mensah Quaye coming under the auspices of the Lands Commission and the Plaintiffs being Nii Blabi Borketey Nkpa and Agbuntso Borteye Bortier who also didn’t lacked capacity as absolute owners of Santeo Lands.
In the ruling of Justice Elizabeth Ankumah(Mrs) in the matter of fraudulent acquisition of land levelled against Mr. David Mensah (1st Defendant) and his facilitator(Lands Commission) by the Plaintifss, she indicated that “an allegation of fraud goes to the root of every transaction. A judgment obtained by fraud passes no right”
She said, the effect of his fraudulent act on the part of the 1st Defendant as upheld by the courts vitiates his lease dated 9th October 2000 with certificate no. TD.6411 and hence hereby cancels the lease agreement.
However, the request of the Plaintiffs for the Court to decide whether or not the Plaintiffs are entitled to recovery of possession, Justce Elizabeth Ankumah(Mrs) emphasized saying; “the Court has found out as a fact that the land forms part of Nungua Stool Lands and therefore cannot order recovery of possession the plaintiff is asking for”.
labi Borketey Nkpa and Agbuntso Borteye Bortier)
According to the Chief of Staff, in their recent inspection report, it has become clear that some individuals and landguards have appropriated some of the stool lands to themselves whilst others also show documents which are forged and purported to have come from the Stool only for proper scrutiny to prove otherwise.
Mr. Lewi also seized the opportunity to also point out the Layouts of other Nungua Stool Lands which included South West of Ashale Botwe, Nmai Djorn, New Nungua, Adjirigano and Okpoi gonno- Teshie Extension. The other Layouts includes Batsonaa, North Nungua, South East Nungua and New Nungua Extension.
The Chief of Staff emphasized that encroachers who are buying from land-guards and fraudsters around the areas which falls within the Stool lands should be very careful to ensure that they have the right documentations because “the Stool will not relax any longer and will embark on a vigorous investigation to expose all the fraudsters who are duping unsuspecting estate developers with fraudulent documents.”
Again, he stressed that “all developers who didn’t acquire their property through the stool should take measure to atone tenancy to the Nungua Stool or submit their land acquisition documents to the Traditional Council for validation before they can proceed further to develop the land.
He however warned that failure to do so will be interpreted as disrespect to the authority of the Stool and Council and an intention to commit fraud and the Council will be left with no choice than to take legal action against such persons who have failed to demonstrate appropriate legal ownership of the said lands on which they are developing.
