SILVER STAR BOSS FACES CONTEMPT

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Former Director of Ghana School of Law, George A. Sarpong, has filed a suit at a commercial court in Accra seeking to commit the Chief Executive of Silver Star Auto Limited for contempt.

The plaintiff has alleged that the head of the company, Kalmoni Nouhad, had defied a Supreme Court order to deliver a brand new Mercedes Benz (E Class) to him.

The case, which started in 2009, was filed for and on behalf of the plaintiff by his solicitors, G.A. Sarpong & Co Limited with Mr. Sarpong as the Managing Partner against Silver Star Auto Limited with Mr. Nouhad as its Chief Executive Officer.

Genesis

According to the plaintiff, a brand new Mercedes Benz (C-Class 180) it bought from the car dealer in 2007 had broken down suddenly in May 2008 but was replaced with another E-Class with registration GN 2266 Y at the cost of 15,000 Euros which again broke down in December that same year.

The plaintiff therefore claimed among others things, a brand new E-Class as replacement or a refund of the purchase price of the vehicle as well as compensation for loss of use of the vehicles and damages for breach of condition/deceit.

Rebuttal

Silver Star Auto Limited in its amended statement of defence filed on October 19, 2009 denied the plaintiff’s claims and insisted that the cause of the accident was attributable to the May 20098 incident.

They argued that G.A. Sarpong & Co was not entitled to any claim as endorsed in the Writ of Summons and had urged the court to dismiss the plaintiff’s suit.

Court’s decision

The Commercial Court after full trial held that G.A. Sarpong & Co was entitled to a delivery of a brand new E-Class as replacement for the damaged car but the court refused to grant the claim for compensation for loss of use of the vehicles and damages for breach of condition/deceit.

Not satisfied, Silver Star Auto Limited appealed against the decision at the Court of Appeal and succeeded in getting the appellate court to review the High Court’s decision by ordering the car dealer to only replace the damaged engine for G.A. Sarpong & Co and not the whole car.

Final decision

G.A. Sarpong & Co then headed to the Supreme Court where a five-member panel presided over by Justice Julius Ansah ruled that G.A. Sarpong & Co had been able to discharge the burden of proof that the vehicle it bought from Silver Star Auto Limited has latent defects and deserved to be replaced.

The panel which included Justices Rose Owusu, K. Anin Yeboah, P. Baffoe Bonnie and J.B. Akamba, disagreed with the Court of Appeal’s reversal of the High Court’s decision and ordered that the trial judgement orders be maintained.

Contempt application

However, the plaintiff in his application for contempt filed on September 9, 2014 said that “upon an undertaking, personally to executed by the respondent himself to unconditionally deliver to the plaintiff a brand new, latest model of the Mercedes Benz 200 E Class should its appeal fail, execution of the judgement was stayed.”

The plaintiff said when the Supreme Court gave judgement in his favour, he filed notice of judgement after trial and duly served the defendant adding “the defendant was served with the order for delivery of vehicle on July 21, 2014 as confirmed by a search report.”

Non-compliance

The plaintiff said the defendant had till date failed to comply with the order of the court although the defendant had the vehicle in its possession.

“In total defiance of the orders of the court, the defendant on August 27, 2014 paid into the court, GH¢157,440 in purported satisfaction of of the order.”

The plaintiff insisted that the order of the court was not for the defendant to pay money but for the delivery of brand new latest model of Mercedes Benz 200 E Class and added that the said payment “is a clear manifestation of the respondent’s disregard for the express orders of the court and his fortitude not to obey the court’s order.

NEW TWIST IN VOLTA BASIN COMPENSATION

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Saturday, Septemebr 14, 2014

It has emerged that two communities that were not listed to be paid compensation in the Volta Basin Flooded Area later found their way into the payment schedule.

The Commission of Enquiry investigating the payment of judgement debts on Thursday heard how Old Osramanae and Gyengyen, all in the Krachi District of Volta Region, took steps to demand compensation after the first tranche was release to other claimants.

Interestingly, the two claims were traced to the 1970s and were exclusively different from most of the earlier witnesses, who initiated the compensation processes only in the 2000s.

Cabinet approval

Cabinet, in July 2008, approved a consolidated amount of compensation totaling GH¢138 million for various stools/families in Pai, Apaaso, Makango, Ahmandi and Kete Krachi Traditional Areas and about 57 groups were said to have benefited from the amount.

Records at the commission revealed that GH¢71 million has been paid so far to the various claimants and the disbursement of the remaining GH¢67million has been put on hold to enable the government deal with discrepancies in the payments.

Some of the witnesses who appeared before the Sole-Commissioner Justice Yaw Apau have been tendering in evidence site plans that did not have dates but had purportedly used the same documents to claim the money from the Lands Commission.

Apau shocked

The Court of Appeal judge even expressed shock at how the Lands Commission could have proceeded to order the release of the various amount of money to the claimants based on the documents the witnesses are tendering before the commission.

Furthermore, the Court of Appeal judge did not understand why communities that were resettled by the government in the 1960s, given communal lands and paid compensation for crops destroyed by the Volta River floods could turn around to claim compensation almost 50 years down the line.

Old Osramanae

Donkor Bobson, a retire educationist and leader of Old Osramanae, told the commission they submitted their claim in 1975 and were not part of the communities that put in claims around 2004.

He said they got to know about the payments when the first tranche was paid to the various claimants but when they enquired they were told that another community called Kantankofore had presented a plan and covered a large tract of land that did not belong to them alone and it included the lands belonging to Old Osramanae.

“We met Nana Asetena Mensah and all the affected clans for arbitration and they agreed to cede part of the land to us and that was how we came into the payment schedule.”

“They gave 5,000 acres to Gyengyen, and 1,000 acres to Old Osramanae. We were peeved about it because the acreage we were anticipating was 4,000 and we thought 1,000 acres was too small but because we did not submit our claim on time we had to give in.”

Justice Apau, at that moment, said that documents available indicated that Old Osramanae was listed as having about 13,605 as at 1975 by the VRA but the witness said he was not aware and added that he did not also know the land was valued at ¢247,005 in 1979.

The witness said he received GH¢51,820.69 in four tranches.

Gyengyen

Anthony E. Quansah, with the stool name Nana Kpebu who works with GRA at Somanya, told the commission that he was selected by the elders to chase the compensation and tendered in evidence the power of attorney given him.

He also said Gyengyen put in a claim in the 1970s and were not part of the current claimants but got to know about the payments when the first tranche was released.

He said the Kantankofore had to cede about 5000 acres of land to them following an arbitration and as a result, Gyengyen received GH¢259,096.39.

“What we are being paid for is not the actual acreage of our lands,” he said.

Makango

In a related development, the Makango communities, who also received compensation, are expected to testify before the commission.

Records at the commission indicate that GH¢632,010.53, GH¢794,509.04 and GH¢307,013.52 was paid to Issah Salifu/Osman Shaibu, Adam Issifu/Issah Salifu, as well as Seidu Braimah respectively.

WORAWORA CHIEF CLAIMED GH¢428,240 COMPENSATION

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Even though Worawora was not part of communities listed to be paid compensation in the Volta Basin Flooded Area, the Paramount Chief of the area Nana Asare Baah III was able to collect GH¢428,240 from government.

Nana Asare Baah III, Omanhene of Worawora and a practicing barrister yesterday justified the payment at the Commission of Enquiry investigating the payment of judgement debts.

He admitted being paid GH¢429,530.00 (which appeared in the commission’s record as GH¢428,240.00) in one tranche and said about 3,066 acres of Worawora lands were flooded when the Akosombo Hydro Electric Dam was constructed in the 1960s.

Justification

He told Sole-Commissioner Justice Yaw Apau that he had been a chief of Worawora for the past 36 years and it was his predecessor who had initiated the claim for compensation and he had to follow it up to its logical conclusion.

He said Worawora lands came into the picture when the people of Pai included their lands in their pursuit for compensation saying “we had to fight to get it back and my land was the smallest among the claims.”

When the Sole-Commissioner found out from him the reason why the initial claim was in the name of the Worawora Stool instead of the individual families as admitted, the witness said the first chief might have made a mistake.

Nana Asare Baah admitted that the amount was paid into his personal account before it was forwarded to the family heads but one third of the amount was retained by the Worawora Stool for development.

“I have documents to show how the money was paid into my account and later shared among the family heads but I do not have documents on how it was distributed among them because I was not in the country at that time.”

Tankreku

Nana Danagigy, a chief of Tankreku which is part of Nchumuru but placed under the Krachi Traditional Council told the commission that all their lands were submerged following the dam construction.

He said the VRA settled the people of Tankreku in Grubi and got very little communal lands for farming but did not get crop compensation even though the commission’s counsel Dometi Kofi Sorkpor insisted that the leaders of the town collected GH¢86,230.00 as compensation in the 1975.

The witness admitted that he collected GH¢159,321.04 for 3,743.31 acres of land destroyed by the floods for the people of Tankreku and said it came in six tranches but the records show the site plan was in his name.

GH¢138m

Cabinet in July 2008 approved a consolidated amount of compensation totaling GH¢138million for various stools/families in Pai, Apaaso, Makango, Ahmandi and Kete Krachi Traditional Areas and about 57 groups were said to have benefited from the amount.

Records at the commission revealed that GH¢71million has been paid so far to the various claimants and the disbursement of the remaining GH¢67million has been put on hold to enable the government deal with discrepancies in the payments.

Some of the witnesses appearing before the Sole-Commissioner have been tendering in evidence site plans that did not have dates embossed but had purportedly used the same documents to claim the amounts from the Lands Commission.

Justice Apau even expressed shock at how the Lands Commission could have proceeded to order the release of the various amounts to the claimants based on the documents the witnesses are tendering before the commission.

Furthermore, the Court of Appeal judge did not understand why communities that were resettled by the government in the 1960s, given communal lands and paid compensation for crops destroyed by the Volta River floods could turn around to claim cash compensation almost 50 years down the land.

CHIEF CONTRADICTS VOLTA BASIN CLAIMANTS

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By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

The Omanhene of Kukuom Traditional Area in the Brong Ahafo Region has said most of the applications put in by some claimants in the Volta Basin Flooded Area are supposed to be stool lands instead of family/clan lands.

The Commission of Enquiry investigating the payments of judgement debts in the past week has been interrogating people who put in claims to collect huge sums following the construction of the Akosombo Dam in the 1960s and in each case witnesses have insisted that the lands were family land.

Stool lands

However, Nana Amoako Ababio known by his stool name Osahene Kwaku Aterkyi II who is a chartered valuer and surveyor yesterday pointed to Sole-Commissioner Justice Yaw Apau that land tenure systems of most of the claimants made it difficult for them to testify that they made the made the claims on behalf of families.

He testified that he was with the then Lands Department now Land Commission in the 1970s when claims for compensation started flooding the Volta River Authority (VRA) and had extensive knowledge about the government’s handling of the Volta Basin flooded areas.

Individual claims

When asked by Dometi Kofi Sorpkor the commission’s counsel whether some of the claimants who sub-divided the lands and claimed compensation in their names were entitled to the amounts, Nana Ababio said he was compiling a document to the commission for verification.

“Many of the Akan and Guan areas have stool lands,” he said adding there were inaccuracies in most of the acreage put in as claim because there were no detailed plans for most of the flooded areas.

He said the government paid compensation for a greater number of communities affected by the floods and said a lot of the communities were resettled, given communal lands and given compensation for crops destroyed.

Nana Ababio recommended to the government to strictly study the various claims to avoid double payment of compensation and said there should be a distinction between land owners and alludial owners.

Ntuaboma

Nana Adade Bekoe II of Ntuaboma who claims to be  a divisional chief under the Kwahu paramouncy also testified and insisted the 8121.69 acres claimed belonged to his family called Aboi.

When pointed out to him by Justice Apau that a lawyer called Kwame Mensah put in claim on behalf of the family in the 1970s and were paid, the witness said he was not aware.

He said he received a total of GH¢1.061,720.54 as compensation even though documents at the commission showed he took GH¢722,287.04.

Tokoroano

Nana Amatakyi, Odikro of Tokoroano which he said was Kyidom of Krachi Traditional Council told the commission that they were bought from Kianan lands and resettled at Tokoroano.

He said six Odikros put in the about 50,000 acres of claim and said he was the one who collected GH¢2.176,426.60 but could not produce and power-of-attorney before the commission even though, records showed he was paid GH¢1.805,604.11.

Nkomi

Godfred Asaim Niachire representative of Nana Efede from Nkomi also testified and said he continued with the process for the claim of 70,123.55 acres when the chief died.

He said Nana Nfede had collected GH¢75,874 before his death and the total claim he had received for the Gyamoae Clan was GH¢3.185,016.65 but claimed that the documents were destroyed in  a lorry accident.

He said apart from some developmental projects, they had set aside some funds to put up a shrine house.

Dikoman

Nana Twerefuor Tim IV of Dikoman said they were resettled at Empaemu in the Kwahu South District from Kete Krachi but claimed he owed allegiance to the Asantehene.

He said the land belonged to him and his family and he was elected to pursue the claim 10,400 acres of land but did not have a power of attorney to tender in evidence.

He said he receive 530,896.77 and complained bitterly about government neglect of the people of Empaemu where he said was affecting every resident Bilharzias due to the use of the Afram river.

GH¢138million

Cabinet in July 2008 approved a consolidated amount of compensation totaling GH¢138million for various stools/families in Pai, Apaaso, Makango, Ahmandi and Kete Krachi Traditional Areas and about 57 groups were said to have benefited from the amount.

Records at the commission revealed that GH¢71million has been paid so far to the various claimants and the disbursement of the remaining GH¢67million has been put on hold to enable the government deal with discrepancies in the payments.

Some of the witnesses appearing before the Sole-Commissioner have been tendering in evidence site plans that did not have dates embossed but had purportedly used the same documents to claim the amounts from the Lands Commission.

Justice Apau even expressed shock at how the Lands Commission could have proceeded to order the release of the various amounts to the claimants based on the documents the witnesses are tendering before the commission.

Furthermore, the Court of Appeal judge did not understand why communities that were resettled by the government in the 1960s, given communal lands and paid compensation for crops destroyed by the Volta River floods could turn around to claim cash compensation almost 50 years down the land.

Asetena Mensah factor

All the witnesses have been telling the commission that one Nana Asetena Mensah, a leader in the communities in Krachi, was the one who had commissioned Kwadwo Ababio & Co, a consultant and surveyors to survey the submerged area out of which the individual plotting were done.

Justice Apau has made it clear that Nana Asetena Mensah never came forward to make any claims. Rather, he delegated the Krachiwura who he said had no stake in the lands to lead the chase for compensation.

CLAIMANT EXPLODES AT JUDGEMENT DEBT COMMISSION

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday, September 4, 2014

A professor of marine and fishery science at the University of Ghana has told the Judgement Debt Commission that the government cannot continue to overlook communities displaced by the floods in the Volta Basin area.

Prof. Patrick Kwabena Ofori Danso said the construction of the Akosombo Dam in the 1960s brought floods that rendered the people of Akroso and Asukawkaw hopeless and the government had not shown much concern as expected.

Prof. Danso was testifying in the matter in which he is said to have collected a whooping GH¢1,440,908.63 as compensation for lands destroyed by the Volta River floods in the 1960s.

Cabinet Approval

Cabinet in July 2008 approved a consolidated amount of compensation totaling GH¢138million for various stools/families in Pai, Apaaso, Makango, Ahmandi and Kete Krachi Traditional Areas and about 57 groups were said to have benefited from the amount.

Records at the commission revealed that GH¢71million has been paid so far to the various claimants and the disbursement of the remaining GH¢67million has been put on hold to enable the government deal with discrepancies in the payments.

Sole-Commissioner’s Shock

Sole-Commissioner Justice Yaw Apau said he did not understand why communities that were resettled by the government in the 1960s, given communal lands and paid compensation for crops destroyed by the Volta River floods could turn around to claim cash compensation almost 50 years down the line.

Majority of the witnesses have since told the commission that one Nana Asetena Mensah, a leader in the communities in Krachi, was the man who had commissioned Kwadwo Ababio & Co, a consultant and surveyors to survey the submerged area out of which the individual plotting were done.

Black Flies Attack

“Disease we have never heard of are now with us at where we were settled. Our people are developing temporal or total blindness due to attacks by black flies,” Prof. Danso complained to the Commission of Enquiry investigating the payment of judgement debts.

Flanked by John Gyamfi who leads the Kwame Donkoh Family, Prof. Danso, a member of the Kwabena Bosompem Family within the Krachi Traditional Council said “I have an uncle whose whole nucleus family is blind,” adding “At Asukawkaw for instance you have to always wear trousers and long sleeves to be able to walk about.”

He also said that epilepsy had become common in the area and wondered how the people were going to survive in the current state of affairs.

Submerged Land

He said “Our land size of about 27,000 was submerged because Akroso was within the confluence of the river and all the government could do was to resettle us together with two other communities on the 1,000 acres land.”

He said the resettlement deprived them of their livelihood and the new generation did not have any land for use and added that the two families had put in a joint claim after Messrs Kojo Ababio had helped them to merge the site plans.

Prof. Danso said the land was under Trans Volta Togoland which later became a German Protectorate and claimed that they had statutory declaration to represent the families.

He said the maps tendered in evidence were made in 1974 and 1978 respectively and it was merged in 2007 when they were filing the claim for compensation and the 1,000 acre land given them to settle was shared with Otiso Amanfrom and Asempaneye.

Dormanbin Claims

Earlier Nicholas Addo, assisted by his counsel Kwame Yankyera tendered in evidence a document used to secure GH¢1,592,545.06  from the government as compensation for Dormanbin lands and Justice Apau remarked that “this is a properly-made power of attorney.”

The witness told the commission that six claimants had given him the power to put in the application around 2004 and also tendered in evidence a properly titled site plan.

He said he could not tell if the earlier people affected by the floods were paid compensation for loss of crops and insisted that the people of Dormanbin were never settled by the government.

EX-MINISTER TESTITIES AT JUDGEMENT DEBT COMMISSION

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Former Volta Regional Minister Kwasi Owusu-Yeboah   yesterday appeared before the Judgement Debt Commission to testify in the case in which he was said to have led some people to collect huge sums as compensation in Volta Basin Flooded Area.

He admitted before Sole-Commissioner Justice Justice Yaw Apau investigating the payment of judgement debts that he collected a whooping GH¢11,258,286.78 as compensation on behalf of Nana Kwame Asante II, Paramount Chief of Tapa Traditional in the Biakoye District of Volta Region who he had represented in the claim as counsel.

GH¢138million

Cabinet in July 2008 approved a consolidated amount of compensation totaling GH¢138million for various stools/families in Pai, Apaaso, Makango, Ahmandi and Kete Krachi Traditional Areas and about 57 groups were said to have benefited from the amount.

Records at the commission revealed that GH¢71million has been paid so far to the various claimants and the disbursement of the remaining GH¢67million has been put on hold to enable the government deal with discrepancies in the payments.

Judge shocked

Justice Apau has already expressed shock at how the Lands Commission proceeded to order the release of the various amounts to the claimants based on the documents the witnesses have been tendering before the commission.

Furthermore, the Court of Appeal judge said he did not understand why communities that were resettled by the government in the 1960s, given communal lands and paid compensation for crops destroyed by the Volta River floods could turn around to claim cash compensation almost 50 years down the line.

Majority of the witnesses since told the commission that one Nana Asetena Mensah, a leader in the communities in Krachi, was the man who had commissioned Kwadwo Ababio & Co, a consultant and surveyors to survey the submerged area out of which the individual plotting were done.

Minister’s testimony

Mr. Owusu-Yeboah told the commission that he was approached by the Tapahene in Abotoase in 2005 to chase the compensation for the family and added that apart from a composite plan he got, there were other site plans by individuals and because most of them were in conflict, he advised them to sort themselves out before leading them.

He claimed that on January 31, 2007, the constituent clans gave him a formal notice to pursue the matter and said the composite plan was endorsed on July 25, 1975.

“It was prepared after the flooding and just after the compulsory acquisition of the Volta Basin lands by the government. The acquisitions were covered by E.I. 98 of 1974 and E.I. 67 of 1975 respectively,” he said.

Hohoe North East

He tendered in evidence a survey map covering the area called Hohoe North East prepared in 1933 where he claimed his client’s land lied.

“The land was not the exclusive claim of the Tapahene. It belonged to the Aynam Royal Family,” the minister said.

He admitted that the communities that were affected by the floods were resettled at the Tapa Abotoase Resettlement Site covered by E.I. 13 of 1971 and added that the resettlement lands were vested in the government.

He said at a point they had to reduce their acreage ‘pro rata’ from about 220,000 acres to 170,000 acres for other communities and said his clients did not engage the services of Kojo Abban & Co who were the surveyors.

He said they were to be paid GH¢23million but received about half of the amount and when the Kojo Abban was paid 10 percent of their amount they sued in court to get it back.

Kachienke Clan

Nana Kwaku Beyenor II, Odikro of Kachienke Clan in the Chonke Traditional Area of Dambai also testified and said his family filed for 21,140.09 acres but records showed that the site plan was in his name as well as two others.

He confirmed that he collected GH¢1.118,048.54 but the commission said the Lands Commission put the amount collected GH¢1.118,109.60 adding that the government never compensated his family but it was through the effort of Nana Asetena Mensah and Kwadwo Ababio & Co that they received the amount.

Choboea Clan

Johannes Koomson who was said to be indidposed was represented by his son Titus Kofi Koomson and he told the commission that the land belonged to the Choboea Clan but the site plan was in the name of his father.

He said his community was never resettled by the government and his father collected an amount of GH¢1.381,518.61 although the Lands Commission’s records indicated the witness took home GH¢1.351,488.61.

He said they used the money for the construction of nurse’s quarters, hired four teachers for their basic school, built a palace among others.

Abrokornor Odefo & Borae

Nana Yaw Donkoh II, Odikro of Abrokornor who also represented Odefo and Borae took his turn and said he collected GH¢87,163.84 in tranches even though the Lands Commission’s documents indicated GH¢127,948.81 was paid to him.

He also said his family never received any government compensation even though the documents are in his name as the claimant.

Nana Kwame Collector of Akaniem was said to be indisposed and could not make an appearance.

VOLTA BASIN CLAIMANTS SHOCK SOLE-COMMISSIONER

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

The second batch of people who put in claims to collect huge sums in respect of the Volta Basin Flooded Area following the construction of the Akosombo Dam in the 1960s were interrogated by the Commission of Enquiry investigating the payment of judgement debts.

Witnesses appearing before the Sole-Commissioner Justice Yaw Apau yesterday tendered in evidence site plans that did not have dates embossed but had purportedly used the same documents to claim the amounts from the Lands Commission.

Cabinet in July 2008 approved a consolidated amount of compensation totaling GH¢138million for various stools/families in Pai, Apaaso, Makango, Ahmandi and Kete Krachi Traditional Areas and about 57 groups were said to have benefited from the amount.

However, Justice Apau expressed shock at how the Lands Commission could have proceeded to order the release of the various amounts to the claimants based on the documents the witnesses are tendering before the commission.

Furthermore, the Court of Appeal judge did not understand why communities that were resettled by the government in the 1960s, given communal lands and paid compensation for crops destroyed by the Volta River floods could turn around to claim cash compensation almost 50 years down the land.

All the witnesses told the commission that one Nana Asetena Mensah, a leader in the communities in Krachi, was the one who had commissioned Kwadwo Ababio & Co, a consultant and surveyors to survey the submerged area out of which the individual plotting were done.

Justice Apau has made it clear that Nana Asetena Mensah never came forward to make any claims. Rather, he delegated the Krachiwura who has no stake in the lands to lead the chase for compensation.

Yesterday, it was Kwame Ananey aka Twenebaoh Anane Hastings, Head teacher at Gyanekrom DA Primary in the Volta Region who was first to mount the witness’ box.

Dentewiase

He claimed secretary to the Dentewiase Clan which is in the Krachi Traditional Area and said the land which is about 22,000 acres belonged to the clan which covered six towns but the Sole-Commissioner revealed that in reality the site plan had one Nana Kofi Gyantro II of Dentewia as the beneficiary.

Mr. Ananey claimed he was selected by the family elders to chase the money but admitted that he personally did not know the date on which the site plan was submitted.

His counsel Kwame Yankyera, entered the fray and insisted that “the plans were extracted from a larger mapping” and said there were dates on the maps but the documents were not available.

Mr. Ananey then confirmed that he collected a total of GH¢1.161,565.65 in five tranches between 2009 and May 2013.

He gave the breakdown as GH¢21,549.00 (2009), GH¢16,716.09 (April, 2010), GH¢167,122.00 (July, 2010), GH¢373,376.85 (January 2012) as well as GH¢558,441.67 and GH¢24,320.03 in May 2013.

“The process was started by Nana Asetena Mensah. I came in when he introduced Kwadwo Ababio & Co to us and my family elders selected me to chase the compensation,” he said.

He said the six communities shared the amount received equally regardless of the size of the acreage but Justice Apau said “ceding parts of the lands to other villages meant that you didn’t know the actual size of your land.”

“When your families were being resettled you were not there but somebody come in 2005 to tell you that money is coming and you quickly drew these plans for the claims and that is where the confusion is coming from,” the judge retorted.

Dentemanso

Nana Kadewurra of Dentemanso who claims to be Benkumhene of Chaichai Division in the Krachi Traditional Council also testified.

He claimed that his clan owned 2,761.74 acres but the document he presented indicated that the site plan which was extracted in 12005 was in his own name.

He said the family did not distribute the total of GH¢96,427.19 paid in five tranches among individuals but for development projects and could only mention the construction of the chief’s palace as one of the development projects.

He also admitted that they were resettled following the floods.

Grubi

Nana Obuiman II aka Alex Adomabe of Grubi who said he was the Nifahene of Chaichai in the Krachi Traditional was the next witness and he admitted that his people were resettled following the floods.

He said the family selected him to chase the money but the site plan he tendered in evidence was in his name, compelling Justice Apau to remark that “they are all giving similar explanation.”

He said he collected GH¢70,785.26 but records at the commission indicated that he GH¢83,157.22 was credited to his name.

Dindor

Nana Nsiahya II of Dindor in the Krachi Traditional Area said he led his people to claim 696.98 acres and said they were not resettled following the floods.

He also said they were not paid any compensation and admitted that the site plan was in his name and used that position to collect GH¢37,027.42 from the government in tranches.

Motodua

Nana Ofosu Okofrobour Appiah II of the Yaa-Dwori Clan in Motodua who claimed to be Twafohene to Krachiwura also testified and said they put in claim for 24,196.15 acres.

He presented a site plan that had the names of Nana Kofi Fosu, Motodua Chief and Nana Ofosu Okofrobour Appiah and Dente Kwasi Emmanuel as the owners of the land but said the land belonged to the clan.

He admitted collecting GH¢1,273,976.61 in five tranches.

DON'T TAKE REFORMS FOR GRANTED ... EC TOLD

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Saturday, August 30, 2014

A law Professor, H. Kwasi Prempeh says he is disappointed in the Supreme Court for failing to order the Electoral Commission (EC) to take steps to lead the reformation of the country’s electoral system.

He said the recommendation made by majority of the judges to the EC after the landmark Presidential Election Petition last year, are equivalent to what he called “a non-binding advice.”

“It is simply to say that in or themselves those recommendations cannot compel the EC to do those things that have been recommended and with an EC such as we have, you need more than recommendation to get it to act,” he said.

Prof. Prempeh who currently serves on the CDD board and teaches corporate, international business, and constitutional law courses at Seton Hall University School of Law at Newark, New Jersey in the United States was delivering a lecture on the first anniversary of the court’s verdict in Accra yesterday.

The forum was put together by policy analysis think tank IMANI Centre for Policy and Education in collaboration with a pressure group, Occupy Ghana Event to review the entire process of the petition, the verdict and recommendations.

Prof. Prempeh said even though the recommendations are ‘analogous to a non-binding advice’ it was not open to anybody to shred the advice.

He said the reforms recommended by the court are in my view rather minimalist. They set relatively low bar. We should use it at best only as a starting point for developing an agenda for reform.”

He said  the judgements of the majority on the bench left Ghanaians more questions than answers thereby creating more uncertainty about the legal standards for conducting a valid presidential election in Ghana or for successfully challenging the validity of a declared result.

“Such uncertainty as well as the lingering perception following the 2013 petition that the judicial challenge of such a petition has rather poor prospects does not auger well for peaceful and orderly conduct of elections in the future,” he said adding “instead of giving us clarity and certainty on the law of elections petitions, what we got from the majority were some recommendations.”

He said that unfortunately, those recommendations were bereft of legal authority saying “when a court needs to compel a party to abide by its decision it proceeds with an order to that party, it does not make recommendations.”

Prof. Prempeh shredded the majority’s decision that had said President John Dramani Mahama was validly elected in December 2012 saying “it is regrettably of dubious value,” and added that the court’s judgement could serve any useful academic purpose.

He said that Ghanaians had been taking for granted the relative peace in the country saying that the last two elections had tested “how we can maintain our reputation as peaceful and democratic nation.”

He said the time has come for the electorate to demand more not only from the EC but other notable actors like the judiciary, government, NIA as well as the public.

Notable speakers included Franklin Cudjoe of IMANI who delivered the welcome address, Abraham Amaliba of the NDC, Samson Lardi Ayenini, Egbert Faibille Jnr as well a CODEO representative who were all discussants.

There was also an open forum where participants contributed to the discussion with almost every contributor urging the EC to take advantage of the period to reform the electoral system.

Initially, IMANI announced that when they invited the EC to the programme, they declined to attend citing busy schedule but just as the programme was winding up, Nana Kwaku Duodu, a Principal Electoral Officer at the Elections Department of the EC stepped in to represent the commission.

It was evident he was ill-prepared and could make significant contribution to the forum.

Meanwhile a former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Professional Administration, (GIMPA), Prof. Stephen Addai, said Ghana must abide by signed treaties regarding international electoral processes.

Prof. Addai believes that the results from every polling station should be “projected unto a public screen and not only on the internet.”

“I remember in 1969 that was done. And that was almost 45 years ago,” he said.

According to him, the system which is practiced in other African countries should be implemented as it might improve the transparency of the polls.

“As soon as the results are counted they must be projected unto a public screen.

“If it is not done, “then there is a deliberate connivance to rig the elections.”