Landowner pleads for compensation

Togbi Bormode Siameh, a claimant to 1,834.94 acres of the land on which the Aveyime Rice Project is sited, yesterday appealed to the Commission on Judgement Debts to assist him to claim judgement debt due him for the compulsory acquisition of his land by the state.

According to him, a court had, in 2005, delivered judgement and ordered the state to pay for the acquisition but the government had failed to comply with the directive, depriving him of what was due him.

A representative of Togbi Siameh, Seth Atsu Siameh, who appeared before the commission with a power of attorney authorising him to speak on behalf of the claimant, said the Accra High Court had ruled that, indeed, the 1,834.94 acres  belonged to him and ordered the state to pay him compensation.

However, in 2005, a group of people applied to the court to set aside that judgement but later failed to move the relevant application for the judgement to be set aside.

In 2010, He said, Togbi Siameh went to court and successfully moved that the application brought by the group in 2005 should be set aside.

“This means that our judgement of 2005 still stands,” he said, and added that since then all attempts to have the money paid had proved futile.

He failed to state exactly how much was involved.

Prior to Seth’s appearance yesterday, Togbi Siameh had sent a petition to the commission seeking its assistance to claim the judgement debt.

The Sole Commissioner, Mr Justice Yaw Apau, reminded Seth that the commission was not a court of law and did not make payments, nor could it order payments.

He said the Lands Department had conducted a survey of the land and concluded that Togbi Siameh’s portion was actually a little more than 1,600 acres and not the 1,834.94 acres that he claimed.

He suggested that the disagreement over exactly how many acres belonged to Togbi Siameh was responsible for the delay, adding,” We will see what we can do.”

Earlier, the Managing Director of Mahogany Company Ltd, Mr Samir Masir, had presented documents relating to judgement debt of GH¢4.9 million paid to him to the commission.

The documents included certified true copies of the judgement which was delivered by a court in Sekondi and a certificate of judgement.

Mr Masir also brought along documents detailing contracts he had signed to manage Western Timber and others supporting claims that his company, Polar Valeta, a shipping line, was used to send and receive parcels.

He told the commission that he made claims for the payment of judgement debt when Mr Joe Ghartey was Attorney-General and a settlement was reached at the time.

He said he later realised that the money he sought to receive from the state was not what had been agreed to in the settlement and, therefore, when Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu assumed office as Attorney-General, he initiated moves to have the money due him increased but she told him to “take it or leave it”.

Mr Justice Apau asked Mr Masir to present documents relating to other judgement debt claims he had made at another court in two weeks.

A representative of Frandesco West Africa Ltd, Mr George Kissi Nyame, the next to appear, pleaded, through his lawyer, Mr Nutifafa Nutsukpui, for two weeks to sort out documents relating to the payment of judgement debt to the company.

Mr Nyame, a quantity surveyor by profession, appeared before the commission after the management of the company had been issued with a subpoena.

He said, through his lawyer, that the company had moved to a new location and, as a result, some of its papers were in a jumble.

A representative of the Registrar-General’s Department, Mrs Helen Akpene Awo Ziwu, the last to appear before the commission, provided the registration details of 10 companies out of the 15 requested for by the commission.

She said officials of the department were working assiduously to locate the rest.

The companies are Frandesco West Africa Ltd, Margins ID Systems, Margins Supplies Ltd, Martin Shipping Co Ltd, Calf Cocoa International Ltd, International Tobacco Ghana Ltd, NDK Financial Services, Delta Foods, Sweater and Socks Factory Ltd, Mahogany Furniture Company Ltd and Rona Construction Ltd.

Story: Mark-Anthony Vinorkor