Court fines two farmers for encroaching on TOPP land

Cape Coast, Nov. 22, GNA -A circuit court at Cape Coast on Wednesday fined two farmers Kwaku Nsowah and Kwadwo Mensah both from Twifo Mampong, a total of 480,000.00 cedis for unlawfully farming on lands belonging to the Twifo Oil Palm Plantation (TOPP). They both pleaded guilty and were each fined 240,000 each or in default 14 days imprisonment each. The court also ordered that the farms should be destroyed to serve as a deterrent.

Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Daniel Niikwei, told the court, presided over by, Mr. Beresford Acquah, that for some time now the management of TOPP had issued warnings to people whose lands had been acquired and compensation paid, not to farm there again. He said last Monday at about 1400 hours the company's security guards on patrol duty discovered that some people had cultivated food crops on portions of the plantation and investigations revealed that the two men had cultivated the crops.