Ghana@50: La Traditional Council application dismissed

Accra, Nov. 27, GNA - An Accra High Court on Monday dismissed an interlocutory injunction application brought before it by the La Traditional Council (LTC) against an ongoing government project at the La Wireless Station in Accra.
The court noted that the LTC had not been able to show the Court the inconvenience, hardship and any irreparable damage it would cause the Council if the application were not granted.
It, however, ordered that there should be an undertaking signed by both parties, that if the LTC should win the substantive case, the land would be returned to the Council.
Mr William Addo, who represented the LTC, argued that the commencement of the project was illegal saying the government ought to have come to Court make the necessary changes before beginning the projects.
He said the land was acquired for the purpose of a Wireless Station but the Government was now converting it into a residential building site for delegates, who had been invited to participate in Ghana's 50th anniversary celebration.
Mr Addo argued further that though the Government was undertaking the project, it had some private sector participation.
He said Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby had indicated in an interview with the press that the construction was being done by private individuals. Mrs Dorothy Afriyie Ansah, Principal State Attorney, who represented the Attorney-General's Office, opposed to the application and relief sought by the LTC.
Mrs Ansah said invitation had been issued to delegates and granting the application would cause an embarrassment and bring untold hardship to the Government.
She said the land, which had no immediate use, had been lying fallow.
Government would also pay some compensation to the LTC after the land had been used.
At the beginning of this month, Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, Former Speaker of Parliament who hailed from La, filed an interlocutory application at the Fast Track High Court on behalf of the LTC in respect of the Wireless Project.
Mr Adjetey prayed the Court to restrain the executors of a Government project in connection with Ghana's Golden Jubilee Celebrations slated for March 2007 from continuing with work pending the final determination of the case by the Court. The Former Speaker in his application recounted that the Government had long abandoned the Wireless Project for which it acquired that tract of land from the LTC.
He said having abandoned the project, the LTC being the caretakers of the land, needed to be informed by Government so that there would be re-negotiations, if the land was to be utilized for a new project.
A week after the interlocutory application, Mr Addo filed an Ex-Parte Motion at the High Court on behalf of LTC, hoping that the Court would hear only the side of the Council in the matter without listening to the Government side.