Fetish Priestesses In Demo Over Land

Aggrieved fetish priestesses of Teshie yesterday staged a demonstration against Finali Ventures, an estate development company at Airport East, Accra, for encroaching on their land.

They also accused the owner of Finali Ventures, Madam Esi Gbedemah, of illegally possessing their land and hiring land guards to prevent them from stepping on the land when the case was still pending in court.

The demonstration was also attended by some youth of Teshie and the Nmashie family, who claim to be the rightful owners of the disputed land.

The demonstration started about 9:15am at flower pot junction, East Airport and ended on the disputed land near the railway line.

Some of the placards they wielded read: ‘Esi Pharaoh, God will deal with you’”, ‘Gbedemah above the law’, ‘Esi Gbedemah stop confusing IGP’, ‘Land robber’, ‘Lawyers and judges beware of Esi Gbedemah’, ‘Naadu Mills be a mother for all’ and ‘We no go sit down, we want justice’.

The angry fetish priestesses warned that they would not rest until the land which had been illegally possessed by Esi Gbedemah was given back to its owners.

Meanwhile, the family of Nuumo Nmashie suspect that Esi Gbedema is being backed by some politicians in the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

This, according to the family, was because anytime they warned her not to step on the land, she used the names of some big men in the NDC including President Mills to threaten them in order to scare them away from the land.

In an interview with DAILY GUIDE, Robert Nmashie, youth leader of the Teshie Nuumo Nmashie, said the land was the property of the family, which comprised the Krobo, Kile and Agbawe quarters.

He said the family had observed that Madam Esi Gbedemah wanted to use foul means to take the land from them but they would not allow that to happen, saying, “It is our right to posses the land, we will not allow anybody to take that land from us. We are going to use all legitimate means to get back our land”.

However, Mr. Nmashie said, “If persuasion fails, force is applied, so we are going to use force if persuasion fails and we don’t care what will happen. We are ready to lay down our lives to claim back the land.”