The management of Empire Builders (Trasacco Valley) Limited has categorically stated that they now have in their possession the Judgment Plan from the Supreme Court Ruling of the Empire Builders-Top Kings disputed land issue, a statement signed by Kwame Owusu Danso, PR consultant, Empire Builders has said.
Consequently, Empire Builders has cautioned Top Kings to stay away from its lands and stay within its 62-acre jurisdiction.
It sought to bring finality to the disputed land issues with Top Kings Enterprise Limited after a court judgment.
According to the statement, Empire Builders have been compelled to address the issue taking into account that actions are being taken in contravention of the judgment.
BACKGROUND
On June 24, 1999, Empire Builders took Top Kings Enterprise Limited (Top Kings) to court for trespassing on a 62-acre Empire had Title to.
In its judgment of the June 11, 2003 the High Court, Coram: His Lordship Justice Brobbey JSC (as he then was) sitting as additional High Court Judge, held that Top Kings’ was to, and I quote, “keep the portion of the disputed land that are already in its possession.”
The parcel referred to by the learned judge was made up of 22 acres, eight (8) acres and the 32 acres of the land. The entire parcel of land granted to Top Kings per the High Court judgment totaled 62 acres and Top Kings was already in possession of that parcel of land and took steps to dispose of and develop into what is known as ‘Kings Cottage Estate’. The portion of land never fell within the master scheme that is currently Trasacco Valley.
The statement mentioned that the High Court also entered judgment for the Lands Commission (3rd Co-Defendant, acting on behalf of the Government of Ghana) in respect of 114 acres out of 456 acres of land Empire Builders was in possession of.
The Court further indicated that a portion of land within the 456 acres also belonged to the Government, which formed part of a large parcel of land acquired by the Government of Ghana for animal husbandry.
The Court made additional orders that Empire Builders was entitled to keep possession of the rest of the 456 acres not affected by the 62 acres for Top Kings or the Government of Ghana.
It added that Empire Builders appealed the High Court judgment to the Court of Appeal. In its judgment dated December 18, 2014, the Court of Appeal upheld the judgment of the High Court decreeing possession to Top Kings over the 62 acres it was in occupation of.
The piece of land decreed in favour of the Government per the High Court judgment on June 11, 2003 which is the 114 acres formed part of the parcel of land released by the Government.
By a Lease dated August 12, 2010, the Government of Ghana released to the Nungua Stool 974.53 acres of land, a portion of which was used for Nungua Farms and Animal Husbandry.
The Nungua Stool, following the release mentioned earlier, subsequently transferred approximately 62 acres of the land to Empire Builders, for valuable consideration. The said 62 acres is separate and distinct from the 62 acres declared in favour of Topkings by the High Court. Additionally, the Government transferred 57 acres of the parcel decreed in its favour to Empire Builders thereby making Empire Builders the owners of that portion of land.
The statement said Empire Builders appealed the Court of Appeal’s judgment to the Supreme Court. On December 16, 2020, the Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeal’s order. The summary of the Supreme court judgment was that Top Kings owned 62 Acres (already in its possession).
The 62 Acres of Land which Supreme Court judgment allowed Top Kings to keep never formed part of the Trasacco Valley master scheme.
It also never formed part of the land declared in favor of the State.
SITUATIONAL REPORT
The Judgment Plan plotted by Survey and Mapping Division of the Lands Commission, clearly shows the boundary of the 62 Acres granted to Top Kings.
As already mentioned, Top Kings was already in possession of this land as far back as 1999 and by the time of the Supreme Court judgment in December 2020 had already developed this area unto what is ‘Kings Cottage Estates’.
Top Kings purporting to be relying on a site plan allegedly issued by the Nungua Stool and dated 1978 has in complete disregard to law and with the aid of “armed thugs and “land guards” commenced a campaign of aggressive land grabbing against the assets of Empire Builders.
In addition, Top Kings has justified his trespass on the land belonging to Empire Builders on the claim that the Court of Appeal set aside the Company’s right to remain in possession of the portions not decreed in favour of Top Kings and the Lands Commission.
Accordingly, Top Kings has taken the erroneous view that it can take over all the land from Empire Builders even though the Court of Appeal never granted Top Kings possession beyond the 62 acres.
Shown on the judgment plan Top Kings has destroyed several houses and other properties belonging Empire Builders, and rendered homeless hundreds (100s) of the workers and families of Empire Builders and its associated companies. Such activities having been carried out by land guards (often armed).
Empire Builders wish, therefore, to draw the attention of the media and the Ghanaian people to the illegitimate activities of Top Kings Limited on Empire Builders Lands as well as the certified Judgment plan as determined by the Supreme Court which details the plotting and Mapping of Top Kings 62 acres.
SETTING THE RECORDS STRAIGHT
It is important to address your minds to what the current situation is as regards the how badly these issues have been managed by Top Kings.
In addition, the activities on the ground, Top Kings, in the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court judgment commenced on a media campaign to spread false claims that it had Judgment of the entire Trasacco Valley and that Empire Builders” has ‘disobeyed a Supreme Court order not to interfere with ‘Top Kings Trasacco Lands’ OPKINGS and ‘Lost Trasacco Valley’.
The question then becomes why did Empire Builders proceed to court, what was the defense put forward by Top Kings, and what was the ruling of the distinguished court.?
There was never any disobedience of the Supreme Court Judgment by Empire Builders but rather the reverse where Top Kings has flagrantly disobeyed the judgment by encroaching on land outside of the 62 acres which it does not have possession of.
It also destroyed property and made homeless various workers of Empire Builders in the process of its encroachment. It is evident that the various media ‘commentaries’ which have been generated on this issue have been based on complete misinformation and/or deliberate falsehood to instigate public opprobrium and disdain against Empire Builders.
The results have been: Damage to the reputation of the Company; Damage to the reputation of the Trasacco Valley Estate and its occupants and residents, loss of business, emotional distress, and tarnishing the image of private individuals even though this was a company to company matter Certainly, as an establishment that believes in the Rule of Law and its importance for social order, we are calling on all sides to respect the Court’s order.
We ask that Top Kings Enterprise Limited stay within the 62 acres stipulated by the Courts. We ask that the land guards are called off so the intimidation and threat to property ceases, along with all the distress.
“We also call on the media, to carry out your mandate with fairness, guided by the truth and the ethical requirement of upholding the public interest always.
“We appreciate that the facts may have been presented muddied to you but … “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” We trust that we can count on you, as always, to be the voice of reason and the conscience of this society,” the statement said.
By: Jacob Narh Nortah.
