Two National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament, UsifJaja,Member of Parliament for the Ayawaso North Constituency in Accra, and Muntaka Mubarak, Member of ParliamentAsawase Constituency in theAshanti region, both accused of forcibly taking over land belonging to one Doctor (name withheld), yesterday, exhibited their disregard for the laws they make in office of theRegional Crime officer,C/supt.Oppong.
Against the advice of C/supt.Oppong, that one of the feuding parties (the Dr) had gone to court to seek injunction on any development on the land, situated at East Legon, and that both parties should seize going there. UsifJajah in an audio tape in the possession of this paper could be heard boasting that “You cannot stop us. We are already on the land”- a show of open disregard for the Police and the Court.
But for the swift intervention of the police, who reminded both parties that his office was a Police Station and that they would could not quarrel, the two feuding parties would have exchange blows in the office of the Regional Crime Officer.
The two law makers have been accusing of stationing landguards on the land on the land who are terrorizing innocent Ghanaian to the chagrin of residents. Sound of gunshots and and squabbles are the order of the day as far as the land is concerned.
Recall that about this same land issue the Minority Chief Whip in Parliament,Muntaka Mubarak, on 2nd August, this year was in a showdown with a court Baillif.
The paper gathered the MP had gone to the Eastern Lagon Police to write his statement in regards to land disputes which had seeped into intimidations when the Bailiff accosted him, introduced himself as an officer of the court and told him his mission-to serve him a Writ of Summons.
When the Bailiff approached the MP, Police sources at East Legon say, the MP told him he was on his way to Parliament and that he could not be serve a Writ but the Bailiff insisted on him taking the Summon from which Muntaka reportedly ignore him and walked to his car(registration number withheld for security reasons).
While in his car and with the door opened, the Bailiff dropped the Writ on his lap-an indication of service-but out of the blue, a well-built man, sprung from behind the MPs vehicle and pushed the Bailiff away amidst warning that “Do you know who you are talking to? Go back! Do not get closer to the vehicle” then he took the document from Hon. Muntaka’s lap and threw it to the floor.
“So Hon. Muntaka drove away and the man also got back to the police station yet the police officers claim they don’t know him. I cannot tell who he was. Whether he is a landgurd I can’t tell. He continued exchanging words with me until I sat on my motorbike and went away,” the Bailiff told this paper in a telephone interview.
Already, the MP stands accused of allegedly using brute force to demolish parts of a land at East Legon(the same land over which he went to the police station), which has been fenced with a wall and a dwelling house on the land for a caretaker to remain in active occupancy to take care of the entire land.
Lawyer Boniface Eugene Owusu, is in court praying for an injunction to stop the MP, after an earlier interlocutory injunction had allegedly gone unheeded to, and his marauding boys from further developing the land he is allegedly forcibly taking from its other claimant.
“My Lord, until this act of trespass by the Respondent and his thugs, Plaintiff have been in undisputed possession and control of the entirety of its land. The Respondents have proceeded to construct a fence wall around the land and have evinced a clear intention to change the nature of the land unless restrained by this Honorable Court.
The Respondents arrogantly neglected the presence of applicant’s acts of possession and caretaker on the land and proceeded unlawfully evict the caretaker and the possession of the land. The conduct of the Defendants, using armed men and thugs is a recipe for chaos, anarchy and lawlessness.
Defendants (referring to Muntaka and three others) engaged armed men and thugs to evict plaintiff’s caretaker on the land subject matter and have overnight used iron sheets to fence the land. The thugs of the Defendants have intimidated and driven out everyone from the land in a bid to overreach and deny Plaintiff’s quiet enjoyment and use of his lawfully acquired land. The Defendant though have evicted Plaintiffs caretaker on the land and have destroyed some of Plaintiffs properties on the land, Defendants are yet to start any development and it is for this reason that the Plaintiff brings this application to restrain the Defendants from starting the said development. The Defendants if not restrained, will use a short time to completely change the nature of the land and same will cause irreparable damage and deny Plaintiff the use for which he first acquired the land. The Respondents despite and interim order restraining them have proceeded and are almost done with the construction of a fence wall round Plaintiff’s land.
My Lord, it is our respectful submission that given the facts as set out in Applicants’ affidavit in support and the exhibits attached thereto, the plaintiff establishes beyond any shred of doubt that he has a legal and equitable right deserving of protection by this Honorable Court”, the Statement of Case in Support Application for An Order for Interlocutory Injunction stated.
Stay tuned.
