Court silences Kwashie Gborlor, Nii Noi Morton, others over Ngleshie Amanfro land

An Accra High Court-Land Division has placed an injunction on Humphery Dzartor Botchwey (Nii Kwashie Gborlor III), claimant to the Ngleshie Amanfro stool and some five others, restraining them from either entering, occupying or developing a parcel of land belonging to Nii Akramah Nyonmor Bei II, legitimate Ngleshie Amanfro Mantse.

The injunction was placed after Nii Akramah Nyonmor Bei II (plaintiff) filed a writ at the High Court against Nii Noi Morton, an estate developer, Humphery Dzartor Botchwety, Festus Dzartor Botchwey, Nii Armah Okine, Numo Kankam and Isaac Aryee a.k.a Sorgborjor over a parcel of land situated behind the Galilea market at Ngleshie Amanfro.

The plaintiff subsequently secured an injunction order to implement the details of the ruling as delivered by the trial judge.

According to the Court presided over by Justice Barbara Tetteh-Charway, the Court was satisfied that the Plaintiff (Nii Akrama Nyormor Being II) has demonstrated a legal right to a parcel of land in dispute and that the court can protect it.

The Judge also indicated that she is satisfied that the case was proper since “…the status quo ante ought to be preserved pending the determination of the suit.”

“Accordingly, the defendants are hereby restrained from interfering with the land in dispute pending the determination of this suit. The application for interlocutory injunction is granted,” the judge ruled.

The case begun after the plaintiff who had acquired the said parcel of land from Ngleshie Amanfro stool with the lease agreement jointly signed and executed by Nii Kwashie Gborlor III (now deceased) and Nii Armah Okine the 4th defendant on behalf of the lessor and was witnessed by Nii Adama Armah the then stool secretary and Numo Kankam, the 5th defendant, begun receiving some confrontations from the defendants.

In his statement of claims, the plaintiff indicated that, upon the acquisition, he took possession of the said land and placed a caretaker and some scrap dealers to operate on the land for years until he brought quantities of cement blocks to begin developing the land.

But in May 2016, some notorious land guards acting on the orders of the 1st and 6th defendants (Nii Noi Morton and Isaac Aryee) stormed the site and demolished a fence wall which was being constructed.

The land guards also seized tools from the workmen who were working on the land.

The plaintiff, Nii Akramah Nyonmor Bei II, indicated that he lodged a complaint against the defendants at the Greater Accra Regional Police Command, but the defendants refused to honour the invitation extended to them by the police over the matter.

The plaintiff also indicated that he asked his workmen to resume work upon an advice from the police when on October 6, 2016, the defendants again entered the land in the company of other land guards and demolish the fence wall causing losses and damages in the process.

The plaintiff, Nii Akramah Nyonmor Bei II, stated that, following the demolition of his fence wall, the 1st and 5th Defendants with the help of the 6th defendant and his land guards entered the land and begin constructing their own building.

The plaintiff, therefore, sought a declaration from the court to take possession of all that parcel of land which the defendants have each trespassed upon with the aid of land guards.

The plaintiff, Nii Akramah Nyonmor Bei II, also sought for damages and a perpetual injunction on the defendants from entering and working on the land.

However, on May 30, 2017, Her Ladyship Justice Barbara Tetteh-Charway after listening to the suit, statements and statement of defense, indicated that in their statement of defense and affidavit in opposition, the defendants/respondents contended that the said land had never been conveyed to the plaintiff and further that the lease document he sought to rely on was fake.

The defendants also asserted that, the applicant during the lifetime of Nii Kwashie Gborlor III, who was the Ngleshie Amanfro Mantse, denied the deceased’s chief’s title to the stool and that the said Nii Kwashie Gborlor III could not have conveyed any land belonging to the Ngleshie Amanfro stool to the applicant/plaintiff.

But, according to the Judge, because the Ngleshie Amanfro stool is a corporation sole and has perpetual succession, the 2nd defendant, Humphrey Dzator Botchwey, claimant to the Ngleshie Amanfro stool is bound by the acts of his predecessor which were done in his (predecessor) capacity as the occupant of the Stool.

“Therefore, in the absence of proof of fraud, the 2nd defendant cannot alienate land that his predecessor had already alienated to the applicant to a third party,” the judge ruled and stated that such grant would be void.

She also indicated that the defence brought by the defendants that the applicant denied the title of the deceased chief was not substantiated in any form, hence she dismissed that defence.

The judge, considering the circumstances, and all relevant documents granted the plaintiff’s (Nii Akramah Nyonmor Bei II) plea and placed an injunction on the defendants as far as the said land is concerned.

The judge also issued an order of interlocutory injunction against the defendants until the determination of the suit.