ST JOHN’S GRAMMAR SUED OVER CONCRETE FACTORY

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Monday July 06, 2015

A group of residents of St John’s area at New Achimota in Accra numbering 48 are suing the Board of Directors of St John’s Grammar Senior High School for allegedly releasing part of the school’s land to a private developer.

The group led by one Isaac Ofori-Poku has also added G&E Grup Limited – the private company engaged in pre-mix concrete supplies, the Ghana Education Service (GES) – manager of public schools, the Board of Directors of St John’s Grammar SHS – custodians of the said land, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as the Ga West Municipal Assembly in the suit.

Reliefs

The plaintiffs are seeking a declaration that the lease of part of school lands to G&E Grup Limited for private business by the school’s Board of Directors “is unlawful and invalid.”

They want a further declaration that the operations of G&E Grup Limited’s pre-mix concrete in a purely residential area at New Achimota “would have dire and serious issues” as well as an order that operations of the private company “is having or likely to have serious adverse health effects on the health and wellbeing of residents of the area.”

The plaintiffs want another order for perpetual injunction against G&E Grup Limited’s operations and additional order restraining the EPA as well as the Ga West Municipal Assembly from granting G&E Grup Limited permit to operate in the area.

They also asked for an order directing the EPA and the Ga West Municipal Assembly to abrogate the lease agreements they have with G&E Grup Limited.

The plaintiffs are claiming that G&E Grup Limited had allegedly refused to procure all the necessary permits from the EPA and the Ga West Municipal Assembly before commencing operations and claimed the company did not take into consideration the health and safety of students of the school and families living in the area into consideration.

They further averred that the GES and the school’s Board of Directors should have known that the purpose for which they leased the land to G&E Grup Limited would have caused a lot of nuisance and harm to the students and staff of the school and residents of the area and should not have leased to the company.

“The operations of G&E Grup Limited’s operation is in breach of the laws of Ghana and should be prevented from operating this kind of business in a purely residential area.”

It is unclear if the defendants had filed their statements of defence as at press time.