Mr Kwame Owusu Danso, General manager of Corporate Affairs Directorate of Trasaaco Group has stated that Topkings Enterprises is confusing Ghanaians about Supreme court judgement.
Responding to a press conference organised by Topkings said they had exhausted all the 62 acres of land under litigation between them.
Mr. Owusu Danso explained that, the Supreme Court judgement was based on both the High Court and the Appeals Court rulings respectively.
He stated, “The Court of Appeal ruling was very instructive. The Court of Appeal ruling is to the effect that, 62 acres of the land belongs to Topkings and Richtop which was delivered by His Lordship Justice Brobbey. The Supreme Court affirmed that. The Appeals Court even indicated that, 114 acres of the said land belongs to Government of Ghana and the rest, he declared ownership for the Nungua Stool”.
Mr. Kwame Danso added that, after the judgment, Empire Builders Limited decided to go into some negotiations with the Government of Ghana to release portions of the 114 acres to them.
“Now the Government released portions of the land to us, which we have certificate and also, negotiated with the Nungua Stool to also release portions of their land to us. We have letters where the Nungua Mantse himself has written to the Lands Commission to expedite the process because, they knew at the time that Empire Builders Limited through its developmental company which is Trasacco, was developing a country and therefore, wanted those lands to be released immediately, and that is what happened. So, we bought portions of the land from Nungua Stool and then, we bought portions also from Government of Ghana “.
According to Mr. Danso, when the matter was taken to the Court, they were seeking for a declaration that, the entirety of the land belongs to Teshie Stool because, that is what they derived their root of title from, but the Court said that, the ownership of the land belongs to Nungua Stool.
“That is what it is and we have respected that ruling. In fact, we have done several discussions with the Nungua Stool. They are our people. We have never a second disrespected the Nungua Stool. The bone of contention right now is the 114 acres which was released to the Government of Ghana to which, we subsequently purchased”.
He further disclosed that, Topkings Enterprises Limited after exhausting their 62 acres, decided to encroach upon the 114 acres of land which Empire Builders Limited purchased from Government of Ghana and the Nungua Stool respectfully.
“And we are saying that, we would not seat down unconcerned, fold our arms and watch Topkings to steal our lands. That is why we are fighting for our rights. It is very instructive to acknowledge that, the Supreme Court in its ruling indicated that, even the argument about the fact that Ernesto Taricone was not a Ghanaian, was neither here nor there because, the father who purchased the property was a Ghanaian and therefore, he could have assigned his interest in that particular property to anybody for 99 years “.
The Court he averred made it known that, reducing the interest in the land to 50 years was an abomination and therefore, reverse it back to 99 years.
“So, the question is, if the Court did not recognized the possession of Empire Builders Limited at the time, if the Court did not recognized that Empire Builders has legally acquired those portions of land, would they have reversed that 50 to 99 years. The question is, where is the 62 acres, and it is instructive to admit that, the 62 acres that they are talking about has been developed by Topkings. That is Kings Cottage “.
Mr. Kwame Danso said, the agenda of Topkings is to pitch Ghanaians against an innocent Ghanaian citizen who is genuinely doing his business indicating that, Topkings has already made promises to some big men who out of that, are also helping them to steal Empire Builders lands. “So, they are just trying to create confusion between us and the Nungua Stool”
He therefore, advised anybody who is intended to purchase or has already purchased lands from Topkings to better go for their monies before it is too late because, Topkings does not have any right over those lands. “What they have which the Court granted which Empire Builders respect, is the 62 acres of land which they have made use of it”.
