Volta Ghana Investments Company Limited sometime in 2019 sued its own grantors; the Okaidja Gbeke family, the Lands Commission, Brainsfield Ltd, Cephter Investments and Properties, and Winfred Kumah Apawu, regarding some lands at the Pokuase Kwabenya enclave in Suit No. LD/0569/2019.
It is on record that after two failed injunction applications, one dated the 14th day of May 2019 by His Lordship justice E. K. Bosompem Apenkwah J. where the Judge noted:
“I have carefully looked at the evidence before this court and is of the view that, the equities of this case show that it would be inequitable to grant this instant application.
This is because the Land Registry and the plaintiffs own grantor have demonstrated that the plaintiffs title has been made in error as its land area in the plan given on the Land title certificate in actual fact exceeds what ought to be in the land certificate. The plaintiff has not given any evidence in rebuttal to what both its own grantor and the Commission have demonstrated in documents exhibited by the defendant/respondents”.
Having failed to injunct the Defendants on two occasions, the Plaintiff; Volta Ghana Investment Company Limited, mounted an application for Judicial Review in Suit No. CR/0137/2021 against the Lands Commission in another Court, seeking the court to order the Lands Commission restore the carved out portion out of its (Volta Ghana) certificate (because the subject certificate had covered other peoples lands compelling the land title to amend portions of the Certificate), here again the application failed, subsequent to which it is alleged the company has abandoned the case as from our checks the last time the Suit was called is 7th February 2023 and no date given for the next adjourned date.
The above and the fact that the company refused to heed the 14th November 2018 letter from the Lands Commission, where the company was called on to surrender its certificate for amendment. The said letter reads “…this means that the cadastral plan of Volta Ghana Investment Company limited(Title Certificate No. G. A. 14810) is not a true reflection of the land delineated in your site plan and therefore needs to be amended appropriately. You are therefore advised to contact the Survey and Mapping Division for the preparation of the new plan”, leading to the lands commission carving out a potion from the plan of Volta Ghana, some suggest might mean Volta Ghana has no valid certificate to be using to transact any business, least of all selling the subject lands to unsuspecting investors and developers.
The actions of VGICL raise significant concerns about the ethics, transparency and legality of some land transactions in Ghana. They sued their own grantor, and the statutory body mandated by law in land registration and land record keeping, in addition to this a portion of the land in their cadastral plan has been carved out rendering their certificate legally invalid. How in the face of all these unresolved legal challenges a company will boldly be advertising and selling these lands could best be described as deceptive and fraudulent.
Speaking to one Agnes of Volta Ghana in an interview on the 18th of December at their office on the Ring Road Accra, she admitted that they had legal problems with their Pokuase/Kwabenya lands yet could not explain why they were selling these litigation lands to the public.
The Lands Commission, though a party to the action is hereby notified of the illegal activities of Volta Ghana Investments limited, all transactions pending in the records of the lands commission regarding these disputed lands are void and a nullity.
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