Rawlings To Drag Chief To Court

INFORMATION AVAILABLE to The Chronicle indicates that the former President, Mr. Jerry John Rawlings, has threatened to drag his ex-landlord, Nana Ansah Prem III, before the court over the botched land saga.
This came to light in the wake of The Chronicle report that the ex-President had been kicked out by his landlord and barred from entering the land he had lawfully acquired from Kronti Adontehene, Akwamufie and a chief of Kyease Akosombo in the Eastern Region, Nana Ansah Prem III.
Mr. Victor Smith, the special aide of the ex-President, when contacted, confirmed their preparedness to seek redress at court. “The ‘old man’ has legally acquired the plots through the due process. We are surprised about the conduct of Nana Ansah Prem III and we are consulting our lawyers for redress.”
The six plots of land bought by the ex-president from the Kronti Adonte family on March 30, last year, “is bounded on the North by lessor’s land measuring 200 feet more or less on the South by the Volta (Kpong) and measuring 200 feet more or less on East by stream/lessor’s land measuring 298.2 feet more or less on the West by the lessor’s land measuring 300 feet more or less” at the cost of ?36 million.
Meanwhile, Mr. Oheneba Kwasi Oppong Akoto who called on The Chronicle to take them to the land, of which he was the facilitator, expressed dismay about how the land saga was going on.
Speaking to The Chronicle on the plot in reaction to the conduct of Nana Ansah Prem III, Mr. Oppong denied the assertion that the former president had done virtually nothing for the people of Akwamu which was supposed to warrant the withdrawal of the plots Mr. Rawlings purchased.
“Rawlings during his reign, tied or constructed the road from Atimpoku to Akwamufie in the year 1992 and also brought electricity to the town. I can tell you that Nana has failed to render any account to his family over the number of plots he (Nana) sold to the people such as investors including the ex-president.”
“I am surprised,” he said, “Nana is saying Mr. Rawlings had never visited the area. When the current president came to a funeral in the area recently, did he visit anybody in particular?” He asked, saying it was unfortunate that people bring politics into cases of this sort.
Mr. Oheneba Oppong, son of the late paramount chief of the Akwamu Traditional Area, Odeneho Kuafo Akoto II, told The Chronicle among other things that the land in question was leased to Nana Aware Werepehene of the Akwamu traditional area for a period of 99 years for cultivation of palm oil.
He said after he had intervened for the land to be retrieved from him and the money had been refunded to Nana Werepehene, he managed to enable the ex-president buy the plot.
Oheneba who was of the view that the saga was politically motivated, said Nana Ansah Prem III contacted him and urged him to prevail upon the ex-president to quickly develop the plot, else, he would withdraw it and give it to another bidder.
According to him, more people do approach him about how much the oldman bought the plot and for what purpose.
“Somebody came to me about this and warned him not to interfere with Mr. Rawlings’ issue, because it was his private matter. I warned him to desist from such a dubious act because I learnt that they wanted to seek a lawyer for Nana Ansah Prem III so that they could manoeuver to get the plot from the old man.”
“They have meant to embarrass the former president because I see no sense in withdrawing the land,” Oheneba added.
It would be recalled that, Monday’s front page of The Chronicle carried a story captioned, “Landlord kicks out Rawlings.” In a notice for an order of no entry dated October 9, 2003, fired by the Kronti Adontihene, Akwamufie and chief of Kyease Akosombo, Nana Ansah Prem III, to His Excellency Flt. Jerry John Rawlings, the Kronti Adonte family stated among other things that, “all privileges, assessment appurtenances whatsoever granted you on the said land have been withdrawn with immediate effect—if there is anything you want to know, don’t hesitate to contact us.”