The Municipal Works Engineer of the Ayawaso West Assembly, Mr.Nathan Narh Caesar has usurped the powers of the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) to sign and endorse an Application for Demolition granting one Frank Nuamah to demolish a storey-building property at Roman Ridge in the Greater Accra Region.
The exercise was carried out after Nathan Narh Caesar received an amount of GHC5,000.00 from one Frank Nuamah.
The Ayawaso West Municipal Assembly has caused the demolition of a storey building property belonging to one Ahmed Muddy Adam, at Roman Ridge in Accra without any Court Order, this paper has learnt.
Snippets of information gathered revealed that, the Assembly took the said decision to demolish the property because it is believed that the building belongs to former President John Dramani Mahama.
Officials from the Ayawaso West Municipal Assembly last Tuesday, stormed Roman Ridge with an excavator and a Tipper Truck, under full police guard and pulled the said building down.
According to a document from the Assembly, the order for the demolition, upon which the demolition was carried, a Demolition Permit, instead of a proper Court document, was signed by the Municipal Works Engineer, Nathan Narh Caesar for the Municipal Chief Executive, after receiving an amount of GHC5,000.00 from one Frank Nuamah.
Investigations conducted by this paper into the matter surrounding the said building property revealed that, Ahmed Muddy Adam bought the land upon which the building was constructed from Tetteh Don-Lartey and payment covering the said land was duly made.
Subsequently, a transfer letter covering the land was prepared for Ahmed Muddy Adam who then took full possession of the land.
Interestingly, things took a different turn when one Christopher Adomako claiming to hold Power of Attorney for his friend, Frank Nuamah, over the same land, demanded settlement from Ahmed Muddy Adam.
Frank Nuamah later filed a case in Court over the land when he claimed to have acquired the said land from the Osu Stool.
The case travelled from the High Court through the Appeals Court to the Supreme Court where judgement was delivered in favour of Ahmed Muddy Adam.
Documents available to this paper have it that, in Suit No. L 205/02, Frank Nuamah (Plaintiff) vrs. Mr. Adjei Darko, Francis Don Lartey and Alhaji Adams (Defendants), filed on April 4, 2002 was brought against the Defendants. And on May 2006, an order for Interim Injunction was granted by Mrs. Felicity Amoah, the then presiding judge against the Defendants, for ten days and on June 26, 2007 the Interim Injunction was extended to last until the determination of the suit.
On March 27, 2014, judgement was delivered in favour of the Plaintiff (Frank Nuamah).
Meanwhile, the suit which was before the High Court, and was transferred by order of the Chief Justice to another Court, commenced with a Writ of Summons and a statement of claim issued at the Registry of the Court on May 31, 2017.
The Court Presided over by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe upheld the decision of the earlier Court and indicated that the Defendant in this case, (Frank Nuamah) did have a cause of action against the Plaintiff (Admed Muddy Adam).
The Defendant in that case, Ahmed Muddy Adam, took the matter up to the Supreme Court against Frank Nuamah, for the Supreme Court to determine whether the judges of the Appellate Court did right by reversing the decision of the trial court in the said matter.
Justices of the Supreme Court, Justice Dotse (Presiding), Justice Gbadegbe, Justice Pwamang, Justice Dordzie and Justice Prof. Kotey were of the opinion that had the learned justices of the Court of Appeal advert their minds to the attributes which the rules place on a party who applies to have pleadings struck out and the action dismissed on the grounds that it discloses no reasonable cause of action, they would in all “probability have reached a decision contrary to that which is the subject matter of the appeal herein.”
The Justices went on to indicate that the decision of the Court of Appeal is contrary to the rules and that the trial judge in the Appeal ruled in error.
“Accordingly, we allow the appeal of the Plaintiff from the decision of the Court of Appeal and restore the decision of the learned trial judge dismissing the application to have the action herein dismissed,” the stated.
MCE
Meanwhile, when the Ayawaso West MCE, Hon. Sandra Owusu Ahinkorah, was contacted over the incident, she denied sunctioning any such order.
According to her the Assembly received an Application for a Demolition Permit from the Assembly but she is not aware that the permit had been granted and signed by the Municipal Works Engineer.
She also claimed that the Assembly did not provide excavators for the demolition.
This is contrary to information picked on the grounds of the demolition when we spoke to an official from the Assembly who confirmed that the demolition was being done by the Assembly and that the workforce and equipment brought to the site for the exercise were from the Assembly.
