72,000-acre Accra land judgment: Occupants won’t be dispossessed — Counsel
People who have bought lands in the 70 areas where the Supreme Court judgment affected are not to be dispossessed.
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Such people, especially those who bought the lands from the Numo Nmashie Family of Teshie, are now to go into new agreements with the relevant authorities in those areas.
The lawyer who led the Boi Stool and 13 others to win the case, who did not want to be named explained the import of the Supreme Court judgment that declared the Numo Nmashie Family of Teshie in the Greater Accra Region as unable to hold themselves as owners of the over 72,000 acres of land.
He told the Daily Graphic that the new owners would now arrange a tenancy agreement with those currently occupying the land.
He said following the judgment, the Boi Stool, owners of 543 acres of the land that had been a subject of litigation for over 40 years, had written to the Lands Commission in a bid to execute the Supreme Court judgment which directed the Commission to expunge all registration and certificates issued to the Numo Nmashie Family of Teshie in respect of the 72,000 acres.
He added that landowners who bought lands from the relevant authorities in the 70 villages would not be affected by the judgment since they dealt with the legitimate families and owners of the land.
However, he said those families whose lands were claimed by the Numo Nmashie Family of Teshie were to also write to the Lands Commission to have any plotting done by the Numo Nmashie Family expunged.
The villages that the Numo Nmashie Family had claimed ownership, are Peduase, Obuom, Nsakye, Agyemanti, Brotrease, Danfa, Adoteiman, Otinibi, Malidzano, Okyrekomfo Kotei, Taboadidi, Ayim, Adenkrebi, Abefia, Ayimensa, Kweiman, Odonkorkurom and Kwadwokurom.
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Others are Otiakurum, Otopram, Brekusu, Kponko, Dedekurom, Sesemi, Teiman, Papao, Ogbodzo, Adaman, Mpehuasem, Otinshi, Otanor, La- Bawaleshie, Tesa, Adjiringano, Okpoi Gonno, Manmormo, Oshiyie, Amanfro, Bobamase, Abokobi, Nyamekurom, Oyarifa and Ogoha.
The rest are Ajangote, Akpomang, Boi, Pantang, Sempene, Frafraha, Apenkwa, Abladdzei, Ankome, Ashonman, Agbogba, Adenta, Otuwa, Madina, Nkwantanang, Ashale-Botwe, Atwuo-Okuman, Martey Tsuru, Gbatsuma, Okpegon, Ablekuma, Odediben, Agbleshia, Alegon, Mangoase, Teshie and Kpeshie Ridge.
Background
In November this year, the Supreme Court clarified that the Numo Nmashie Family of Teshie in the Greater Accra Region could not hold themselves as owners of 70 villages which occupied over 72,000 acres of land.
In its latest clarification, a five-member panel of the apex court presided over by the Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Torkornoo, affirmed that the Numo Nmashie Family of Teshie could not claim ownership of the land because a Court of Appeal’s decision in 1982 which declared them owners of the piece of land was based on fraudulent information presented to the court.
The clarification affirmed the Supreme Court’s judgment dated March 22, 2023, which had Justice Jones Victor Mawulorm Dotse, as the presiding judge.
Other members of the panel were Justices Issifu Omoro Tanko Amadu, Nene Abayateye Ofoe Amegatcher, Avril Lovelace-Johnson and Emmanuel Yonny Kulendi.
The judgment was delivered in favour of the Boi Stool and 13 others.