Aplaku Wolomo plans to eject residents

Information available to Today indicates that scores of residents living in Tetegu, a fast growing community in the Ga South Municipality of the Greater Accra region, are currently living in absolute fear and panic.

That fear, Today understands, follows a move by the Akplaku Wolomo, Numo Tetteh Nartey II, together with his elders and kingmakers of the Aplaku Stool of James Town Royal Stool in Ga Mashie, the indigenous owners of Tetegu lands, to use all legal means to eject thousands of residents who illegally acquired their lands from Illegitimate people at Tetegu near Weija in Accra.

The development, Today learnt, was generating a possible looming clash between family members of Aplaku Stool and land owners at Tetegu.

According to the Wolomo and his elders, these residents have "haphazardly and arbitrarily" encroached upon some acres of their lands which the residents claimed they had acquired from non-existing indigenes of Aplaku Stool in the late 1990s.

But, Numo Tetteh Nartey II and his elders quickly rubbished the claims by the residents, thereby making a move seriously to reclaim that portion of lands through an ejection exercise.

Mincing no words, the Wolomo and his elders asserted that some illegitimate elders and self-styled kingmakers of Tetegu and Aplaku who ‘illegally’ re-sold parts of the said lands to developers a couple of years ago without their consent and knowledge at the time that they were litigating the matter in court were not the indigenous owners of the land.

Accordingly, Numo Tetteh Nartey II together with the accredited elders and kingmakers of Aplaku Stool urged all land developers, companies, churches, education institutions and organisations which were on their lands at Tetegu to urgently contact the office of Aplaku Stool for the proper regularisation of their land title documents or have their properties demolished.

Addressing a packed press conference at Aplaku on Saturday, March 10, 2016 Numo Tetteh Nartey II called the bluff of some people of Tetegu over their ownership claim of the said acres of lands, emphasising that the "encroachers risk the demolition of their building structures, if they fail to regularise their documents covering the land with the Aplaku Stool."

Numo Tetteh Nartey described the ownership claim at Tetegu lands by some Illegitimate elders of Aplaku Stool as “criminal and disrespectful” to the laws of the country, warning people who were still acquiring lands from those Illegitimate people of Aplaku and Tetegu to immediately stop that illegal act or else they would face the full rigours of the law.

Surprisingly, Numo Tetteh Nartey II, who doubles as the acting Mantse of Aplaku revealed that the Chairman of the Residents Association of Aplaku and Tetegu, Mr. Joseph Adu, after getting information that they were preparing to invite for regularisation of the land title documents of those who illegally bought lands at Tetegu, the chairman quickly submitted his documents to him (Numo Tetteh Nartey) which virtually turned to be a document forged with his (the Wolomo’s) signature.

"We know that Mr. Adu is not the only land buyer in Tetegu whose land title documents has forged my signature (Numo Tetteh Nartey II); there are lots of land buyers who have forged land title documents signature of mine... but all is not lost as opportunity exist for verification and regularisation of the "fake or forged documents" to avoid any possible demolition of their building property," he advised.

He revealed that a Fast Track High Court in Accra presided over by His Lordship, Justice N.M.C. Abodakpi, on Friday, May 31, 2013 gave judgment over the long standing suit No. AL 45/2005 between the late Chief of Dansoman, Nii Kojo Danso I, (substituted by Samuel Nii Arku Danso) the plaintiff verses Ayittah Tsuru, Land Commission of Ghana and Tare Property Development Company Limited, the defendants, involving the lands at Tetegu township and environs in favour of the defendants (Aplaku) that the first defendant, Ayittah Tsuru, the late elder of Aplaku had vividly established the right to declaration of title to the disputed lands at Tetegu.

The judgement, which is in possession of Today, spelt out that the "plaintiff, Samuel Nii Arku Denso, has failed to establish the right to declaration of title, possession damages for trespass and injunction, in respect of the disputed land. And therefore he plaintiff's action was dismissed by the court.

It went on to state that the third defendant, Tare Property Development Company Limited, was not entitled to the reliefs it was seeking, as stated in its counter-claim, because it led no evidence in court to merit the award.

Continuingly, the judgement asserted that the first defendant, the late Ayittah Tsuru, who was substituted by Samuel Nii Arku Danso, has established the right to declaration of title to the disputed land as described in his counter-claim.

The court in its judgement awarded GHC1000.00 cost in favour of Ayittah Tsuru against the plaintiff.

According to Numo Tetteh Nartey II, after the court had given judgement to the effect that Tetegu land belongs to Aplaku Stool of James Town, "we served notice inviting those who “fraudulently acquired our landing properties in Tetegu” to come to our office at Aplaku for regularisation of their land documents or face demolition.

Flanked by some accredited elders of Aplaku Stool, Numo Tetteh Nartey, who doubles as the acting Chief of Aplaku, stressed that the illegitimate people who are illegally stealing Aplaku Stool lands at Tetegu to unsuspecting individuals and organisations would soon be arrested and prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others.

“Our ancestors have acquired the land somewhere in the ‘80s and there are documents at the Lands Commission, indenture and title deeds to prove that. We also want to state that there have been several judgments over the land and which judgments have all been in favour of Aplaku Stool," he averred.

“Why should we claim lands that are not ours," he re-affirmed and provided documentary proof of the land map of the southern parts of Accra to back his claim that the land in question indeed belongs to Aplaku Stool.

He therefore, gave the assurance that the Aplaku Stool will go ahead with its plan to eject all encroachers on its lands," stressing that Aplaku Stool will soon publish a list of all encroachers on the land and invite them to regularise their stay."

"It not our desire to demolish houses built through people's sweat but it’s our directive for those who have acquired lands at Tetegu illegally to submit their land title documents to the office of Aplaku Stool, failure of which we would have no option than to pull down their illegal building structures in Tetegu," Numo Tetteh Nartey indicated.