The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of the Korle Klottey Municipal in the Greater Accra Region, Samuel James Nii Adjei Tawiah, and two other individuals have been sued by an estate developer, Consika Limited, for trespassing on their land and causing damage to it by selling it to another Real Estate Developer. The land was originally sold to them by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA).

The defendants, 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, are being sued by Consika Limited, asking the court to prevent them from entering the land and to compensate them for any damages they may have caused on the Tudu property.

Background

According to the writ, Consika Limited expressed interest in purchasing the land in 2014, which was then occupied by wooden structures for its business due to its strategic position.

When the plaintiff inquired about who owned the land, they were informed that the AMA was the rightful owner.

The plaintiff accepted the AMA's offer to lease the land on certain terms, and as part of those terms, the estate developer built a fully furnished two-storey office building for the 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 August 25, 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 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.

Additionally, they ask the court to award costs and legal fees on a full recovery basis in accordance with the Ghana Bar Association's scale of fees, and to cite the Defendants for fraud against the Plaintiff by allegedly granting a portion of the Plaintiff's land to the Base Company Limited, despite their actions being done in bad faith.