Mankralo Restrained

12/12/07 (UNPUBLISHED)
Story: Mabel Aku Baneseh
THE Accra Fast Track High Court has restrained the Mankralo of Osu, Nii Ako Nortei IV and two others from developing a disputed parcel of land situated at the Independence Avenue, Accra until the final determination of a suit brought against them.
IKOHOPS Investment Limited has sued the Osu Mankralo and two others namely Nii Nortey Omaboe, the Osiahene of Osu and Nii Okwei Kinka Dowuona VI, a member of the Osu Traditional Council praying the court to declare the defendants as tresspassers.
Giving its ruling in an interlocutory application filed on behalf of the plaintiffs by their counsel, Mr Ben Kuwornu, the court held that "from the processes filed in this case, I have come to the firm conclusion that the applicants case is not frivolous or vexatious and to permit the respondents to develop or continue to develop the subject property would inflict substantial and irreparable damage on the applicants."
"Accordingly, it is ordered that the respondents whether by themselves, their agents, servants, workmen and any other persons claiming by or through them, be restrained from entering or dealing in whatever manner including digging of a foundation or engaging in any manner of construction on the disputed property pending any or further orders," the court, presided over by Mr Justice K. A. Ofori-Atta ordered.
In the substanstive matter, the plaintiff is praying the court for a declaration that IKOHOPS Investment Limited was the owners of 1.54 acre leasehold property of which the government of Ghana was ultimately the lessor.
The plaintiff is also seeking a declaration that the defendants were tresspassers on the said land as well as prayed the court to perpetually restrain the defendants and their agents from holding the property as their (defendants) own.
IKOHOPS is also praying the court to award damages as well as award profit from November 1, 2005 being the date of the unlawful occupation of the land by the defendants.
A statement of claim accompanying the writ said the plaintiff acquired the land from Metropolitan Insurance Company Limited with the consent of the Lands Commission.
According to the plaintiff the land was vacant at the time it was acquired adding that "not long after, the defendants acting through their servants, privies and agents trespassed on the land, stormed the premises and drove away security men with dangerous weapons".
"The defendants not only made inscriptions on the building to the effect that the land and the building thereon belonged to the Osu Traditional Council but also established what they called Osu Traditional Council Secretariat and Legal Department," the statement of claim averred.
The plaintiff stated that as a result of the defendants continuous stay on the land it had been deprived of its property.
In an affidavit in opposition filed on behalf of the defendants by Koi Larbi and co., legal practitioners, the defendants have denied the claims of the plaintiff.
The defendants prayed the court to strike out the writ of summons and statement of claim on the grounds that they (defendants) had filed an earlier suit on the same property in another court.
According to the defendants it would amount to encouraging multiplicity of suits and also forum shopping if the court proceeded with the trial.
The defendants, therefore, prayed the court to strike out the writ of summons and statement of claim on the grounds that the plaintiff's action was an abuse of the judicial process.