The Nii Odai Ntow Family has clarified that it is not true that the High Court has ordered the Lands Commission to cancel and delete all Nii Odai family entries due to fraudulent and illegal extensions of their land boundaries.
At a press conference, Seth Asante Wiafe, Esq., the Legal Manager for the Nii Odai Ntow Customary Land Secretariat, stated, “The orders of the High Court are contained on page 22 of the judgment as follows: ‘Accordingly, the instant application for Judicial Review in the Nature of mandamus is granted. The Respondent, having already superimposed the judgment of 1904 and delineated the size, location, and boundary of the Nii Odai Ntow’s family and other interests on the Composite Site Plan, is hereby ordered to amend its records by cancelling and expunging where necessary if the existing registration of the Nii Odai Ntow’s family land covers portions beyond the 1904 judgment and to register the interest of persons that the Courts have held to be entitled to those portions within three months from today. No order as to cost, each party is to bear their own cost.'”
He emphasized that this is the exact judgment of the High Court, Accra (General Jurisdiction 8), dated Tuesday, 16th July 2024, delivered by Her Ladyship Ellen Lordina Serwaa Mireku in suit No. GJ/1183/2023. There is nothing in the judgment that orders the Lands Commission to cancel and delete all Nii Odai family entries.
According to the Legal Manager, the media has been flooded with reports, particularly on social media and online news outlets, about a court judgment supposedly ordering the Lands Commission to delete all Odai Ntow family land entries and titles from public records. “Specifically, reports on Ghanaweb claimed that the High Court in Accra ordered the Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission to cancel and delete all Nii Odai family entries due to the family’s fraudulent and illegal extension of their land boundaries.”
The Nii Odai Ntow Family, through the Nii Odai Ntow Customary Land Secretariat, takes exception to the deliberate misrepresentation and erroneous interpretation of the High Court’s decision and orders. They stated with certainty and clarity that the publication by Ghanaweb and other social media outlets is colossally erroneous, judicially wrong, a palpable falsehood, a complete misrepresentation, and an attempt to distort court proceedings and the orders of a competent court.
“In simple terms, the publication by Ghanaweb is a deliberate and calculated attempt by certain persons to perpetrate mischief and deceive the general public and the many wonderful tenants who currently occupy various portions of the Nii Odai Ntow family lands at Kwabenya, Ashongman, Agbogba, Dome, Haatso, Katapor, Adjangote,” Wiafe stated.
Lawyer Seth Asante Wiafe also indicated that, while the Nii Odai Ntow family disagrees with the High Court’s decision, they assure the general public, especially their cherished tenants and lessees, that they will use appropriate legal procedures to vindicate their position. They will not resort to lies, falsehood, misrepresentation, and propaganda as others are doing to retell the family story regarding lands in Kwabenya, Ashongman, Agbogba, Dome, Haatso, Katapor, and Adjangote.
The Nii Odai Ntow Family is recognized as the adjudged owners in possession of lands situated at Kwabenya, Ashongman, Agbogba, Dome, Haatso, Katapor, and other areas, as per the judgment of His Honour Sir Brandford Griffith Knight, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Gold Coast, in 1904 in the suit entitled A. Bosumpim and Others vrs Martei and Others.
