FEBRUARY 27

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02 DAILY QUOTE Don’t Let Yesterday Take Up Too Much Of Today. – Will Rogers CONTENT ANNIVERSARIES Independence Day — Wednesday, 6th March. Good Friday — Friday, 19th April. Easter Monday — Monday, 22nd April. DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2019 Published by: EIB Network / Heritage Communications Ltd. Managing Editor: William Asiedu: 0208156974 Editor: Kofi Enchill: 0265653335 ISSN: 0855-52307 VOL 7 Location: Meridian House (Starr FM) Ring Road. Box AD 676, Adabraka, Accra,Ghana. Telephone: +233-0302- 236051, 020-8156974 026-5653335 www.dailyheritage.com.gh Adverts/Mktg: Paul Ampong-Mensah 024-4360782 Fax: +233-0302-237156 Email: news@dailyheritagegh.com.gh heritagenewspaper@yahoo.co.uk EDDT challenges families over land ownership THE EAST Dadekotopon Development Trust (EDDT) has stated that the Land Certificate it holds over the 3,408.65 acres of land at Tse Addo in La is still valid as per a Supreme Court ruling dated February 12, 2019. The EDDT said the latest Supreme Court rulings have nullified all rights the Atta Tawiah Tsinatse Family were granted by the High Court presided over by Justice Abada on March 3, 2016. Addressing a press conference to dispute claims by the Atta Tawiah Tsinatse Family that the Trust holds no authority over the said land, the Chairman of the East Dadekotopon Development Trust, Nii Obuor Fredman Afful, averred that the Justice Abada ruling which the Atta Tawiah Tsinatse Family is relying on to claim 808.644 acres of land had been nullified by the Court of Appeal. Ahead of the EDDT Press conference, the Atta Tawiah Tsinatse Family, in a similar fashion, met the media and claimed ownership over all the entire 3,408.65 acres being claimed at Tse Addo. According to the families of Attah Tawiah Tsinatse and Numo Ofoli Kwashie, they sued the EDDT and secured a judgment of the High Court presided over by Justice Ofori Atta in Suit No. BL431/ 2006. The family also accused the Trust of using some police officers to terrorise residents on the land. However, Nii Afful, in a response, indicated that the EDDT, was formed in 2002 following court action and by a Trust Deed dated April 10, 2002, and a land certificate was issued to the Trust in 2003. He said a new Board of Trustees was formed • Nii Adhei Koofeh IV (M, ) La Kingmaker and Supreme Head of Nmah Abonase Family, Nii Obuor Fredman Afful (L), Chairman of the East Dadekotopon Development Trust, and others at the press conference on March 27, 2017 and inaugurated on September 8, 2017, after settlers on the land had brought the appointment of the board to public attention through newspaper publication on April 30, 2017. Nii Afful explained that after the formation of the new Board of Trustees claims began to emerge from the Atta Tawiah Tsinatse and the Nuumo Ofoli Kwashie families who later sued the Trust and secured a judgment in their favour. “By that judgement the families were declared owners of an area of 808.644 acres, which was registered in the name of the EDDT. Also the judgement impugned the Certificate of the EDDT,” he explained. He noted also that the EDDT filed an Appeal against the High Court ruling at the Court of Appeal but the families abandoned the earlier judgement of the High Court and entered into a Consent judgment. Nii Afful said the consent judgement had been adopted as a judgment of the Court of Appeal on April 30, 2015. He also averred that after the settlement, there was an inter-family conflict between the Atta Tawiah Tsinatse family and the Nuumo Ofoli Kwashie family when a faction of one family disputed the right of the other to act on behalf of the families. Nii Afful said the case later went before Justice Anthony Abada for determination. “The EDDT was not a party to this suit. It was purely a family affair,” he said. He stressed that on March 3, 2016 judgment delivered by Justice Anthony Abada sparked off the unfortunate chain of events being experienced over the land. He pointed out that the two families reasoned that if the consent judgment was set aside, the only judgment existing would be the Ofori Atta judgment of December 2010 against the EDDT. According to him, the Trustees of the EDDT commenced several actions both at the High Court and at the Supreme Court to nullify those unfortunate developments and to set aside the judgement of Abada J., which gave birth to actions of the families. He, however, said the Company would always resort to proper legal means to ensure that the disputes brewing between them and the families were settled. But in a counter press conference yesterday, the head of family of the Ataa Tawiah Tsinaatse, a Nuumo Ofoli Kwashie of La, punched deep holes into the claims of the EDDT, saying that the Trust did not have a legal status to deal in any land transaction on behalf of the Ataa Tawiah Tsinaatse and Nuumo Ofoli Kwashie families of La Traditional Area. The spokesperson for Ataa Tawiah Tsinaatse and Nuumo Ofoli Kwashie families, Mr Henry Ayi Addo, noted that the judgment of the Supreme Court has not been challenged and so no one, "I say no one has taken the Ataa Tawiah Tsinaatse and Nuumo Ofoli Kwashie families of La to court to appeal against our judgment." AWW Commission Ayine’s cross-examination request declined BY KWAME ACHEAMPONG THE COMMISSION probing the Ayawaso by-election violence has ruled against a request by lawyer for witnesses Delali Brempong and Member of Parliament (MP) for Ningo Prampram, Sam George to cross-examine some earlier witnesses who made claims regarding them at the commission. The Chairman of the Commission, Justice Emile Short, in his ruling, said allowing such an application to stand would disrupt the the proceedings of the commission. “The Commission declines the request by Counsel of Mr Delali Brempong and Sam George to cross-examine witnesses who have offered testimonies,” Justice Short said. The ruling further noted: “The work of the Commission is not to decide what the balance of right and liabilities are between two parties…allowing the request will fundamentally disrupt the proceedings of the commission. The Commission has for good reason adopted the inquisitorial approach in its way”. Responding to the ruling, lawyer for the two witnesses, Dominic Ayine, expressed gratitude to the Commission and stressed that he was happy to note that the outcome of the Commission’s work wiould not have direct consequences on the political future of his clients. Meanwhile, the Ningo Prampram MP blamed the vigilantism menace in the country on the failings of the country’s land tenure system. He said the people who are recruited by political parties for vigilante activities are often known land guards who have no profession aside protecting lands. He said if the police are allowed the free hand to deal with such individuals, vigilantism will be properly dealt with in this country. • Lawyer Dominic Ayine
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2019 03 Akufo-Addo’s boy hot BY PHILIP ANTOH philip.antoh@dailyheritage.com.gh THE CHIEF and people of Twifo Praso in the Central Region are appealing to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to immediately sack the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Twifo-Ati Morkwa District, Mr Robert Agyemang Nyantakyi, for meddling in chieftaincy matters. According to them, the DCE, instead of embarking on development projects, has sided with the Ati Morkwa chief, Nana Kwasi Kenin IV, to deny Twifo Praso and its environs development, and that the DCE, on daily basis, harasses the youth of the town. Speaking to the press after a demonstration in the area to register their grief, the chairman of Twifo Toffoe Youth Association, Mr Ababio Tawiah, said the DCE had failed the town by meddling in chieftaincy issues in the area and appealed to the President to sack him immediately and replace him with the one who is development-oriented. Mr Tawiah said sometime in August last year, the Member of Parliament for the area, Abraham D. Odoom, in trying to fulfil his campaign promise, completed an abandoned market at Twifo Praso and informed the chiefs and elders of the place perform the necessary rituals to pave the way for traders to conduct their activities there. • As angry Twifo Praso residents call for DCE’s head • Mr Ababio Tawiah (M), Chairman of the Twifo Toffoe Youth Association flanked by two of his executive members. He added that “surprisingly we were summoned the next day to appear before the Divisional Police Commander at Assin Fosu to answer charges of indiscriminate shooting into a crowd on the day of the rituals. The chairman said the police later realised nothing of the sort happened and so the people were released on bail but on the following day a pickup with registration number GN 1340-12, full of thugs, allegedly being sponsored by the DCE, stormed the market and vandalised all the structures. “They drove carelessly and fired countless number of gun shots in town and the case was reported to the police but no arrest has been made till date,” he stated. Mr Tawiah said the DCE connived with Nana Kenin and others and succeeded in securing a court injunction restraining the traders from accessing the market, a situation which has brought untold hardship on the traders. The association also accused the DCE, among other things, of harassing and arresting innocent youth in the town who seem not to be in agreement with him in his unwarranted acts. Wearing red gear and red armed bands and chanting war songs, the chiefs and youth of Twifo Praso last Friday, February 22, demonstrated through the principal streets of the town to register their displeasure against the DCE and Presiding Member of the assembly for working against the progress of Twifo Praso. The chief and the youth called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to immediately call the DCE to order or they themselves will sack him because he cannot be trusted, since he has taken sides in the chieftaincy impasse in the area. Complaining about lack of development issues in the area, the chiefs cited the poor deplorable state of the road from Cape Coast to Praso, and the need to construct a bridge on a portion of Pra River to create easy movement across the river. “We are giving the President two weeks to talk to the DCE or we will halt every activity in the area,” Mr Tawiah stated. But when contacted to react to the issues in an interview with the DAILY HER- ITAGE, DCE Nyantakyi said he was not aware of the demonstration and that the demonstrators should have made him aware of their impending action before carrying it out. Mr Nyantaki, therefore, declined to speak about the issues, saying he had important assignments like a town hall meeting to attend. Pocket money for prosecution saga… AG allays fears of prosecutors BY MUNTALLA INUSAH muntalla.inusah@dailyheritage.com.gh THE ATTORNEY General’s Department, led by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Ms Gloria Afua Akuffo, has responded swiftly to the cry of police prosecutors who used their pocket money to prosecute crime for the State with the assurance that, “we will do what is reasonably necessary to ensure that prosecutors are made comfortable to work.” The AG’s office also said the prosecutors are not asking for something more than they deserved but “we are not sleeping at all, 24 hours we are working on matters like this.” Joseph Kpemka, Deputy AG, who made this known when he was reacting to the DAILY HERITAGE story that police prosecutors have been using their pocket monies for prosecution, told Francis Abban on Starr FM. According to him, some amendments proposals are being considered by the AG’s office for consideration by Parliament for some allocation of Court Fines to address concerns of this nature. “We will do what is reasonably necessary to ensure that prosecutors are made comfortable. Whatever they are complaining about most of it is true and we will do what is reasonably necessary to ensure that they are made comfortable to work. “They are not asking for something more than they deserve, how could you be using your own money to take maybe people to court and et cetera or go to do prosecutions, that cannot be?” he rhetorically asked. Police discussing modalities The Director-General of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, ACP David Eklu, had earlier told the DAILY HER- ITAGE in a telephone interview that the matter had been discussed at management level and the Legal and Prosecuting Directorate had been tasked to come up with modalities for consideration. “That issue was discussed at management and the legal and prosecuting directorate was tasked to come out with various modalities to make it easier for those prosecutors to provide those documents to the other parties as per the Supreme Court decision. Asked if the modalities would include refunding the pocket monies to the prosecutors, ACP Eklu said “the possibilities include all those, but I don’t want to sound so certain that is what we are going to do, so I’m saying that we are looking at other modalities and all those are part of it (sic).” Armed robbers freed On February 21, the paper carried a story on its front page • CONTINUE ON PAGE 5
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