The Mankranso District Magistrate Court has ordered Nana Appiah Sarfo Kantanka, the Chief of Akropong, not to undertake any form of activities or any development or cultivate any new farms or alienate any part of the land in dispute, till the final determination of the case pending before it.
An interlocutory Injunction ordered by the Court, presided over by Her Worship Juliana Millicent Ocran, the District Magistrate also restrained the defendants, their agents, assigns and privies from cultivating any new farms or alienating any part of the land in dispute.
Yaw Sarfo, Akosua Dufie and Albert Osei-Banahene, Head of the Aduana Family (the plaintiffs) have sued the defendants for declaration of title to and ownership of all parcels of land in dispute situated between Akropong and Kunsu.
The plaintiffs are seeking damages for trespass, recovery of possession and perpetual injunction to restrain the defendants, their assigns and agents from interfering with the title, ownership and possession of Aduana Royal family of Yabi that acquired the said land from the then chief of Akropong, Nana Kwabena Sarfo in 1925.
The said land is bounded on the North by Kunsu, on the South by Akropong, on the East by the main road leading from Akropong to Kunsu and on the West by Akropong land.
The Akroponghene (second defendant) claims to have sold the land to Nana Kwadwo Asuman Kubi, the first defendant.
The court heard that when the third plaintiff went to the land in dispute, he realised that the first defendant was undertaking illegal mining on the land while the substantive case was pending before the court.
As a result, the plaintiffs filed a motion on notice for interlocutory injunction to restrain the defendants and their agents from undertaking any illegal mining activities on the land in dispute.
They claimed the illegal mining activities on the land by the second defendant and the use of heavy earth moving machines including excavators had caused waste to the disputed land and impacted negatively on the vegetation.
The plaintiffs argued that the vegetation of the land had been destroyed by the intrusion and galamsey activities of the defendants and that unless the Court restrained the defendants the entire land would be destroyed by the time the case is determined.
According to the plaintiffs, they had suffered loss and damages from the wrong act of the defendants and that the intervention of the Court is needed to preserve their property from further destruction by the defendants through illegal mining.
They argued that if the defendants are allowed to undertake illegal mining on the said land and the case is determined in their favour they would have no land to take hence the need to restrain the defendants till the final determination of the case.
The plaintiffs also argued that if the defendants are allowed to undertake illegal mining and they (plaintiffs) win the case, the damage cannot be compensated in monetary terms.
The defendants, however, contended that the plaintiffs do not have the requisite capacity to initiate the action against them.They also claimed that the Akropong Stool had been granted the land since 1958.
But guided by Order 13(1) of the District Court Rules, 2009, the Court upheld the application of the plaintiffs on the grounds that they (plaintiffs) had legal or equitable rights in the disputed land which, if not protected by the court, will cause irreparable damage to them.
It said the fact that WuzzahWuna Ghana Limited had entered the land, which had been a subject of Gold concession, with earth moving machines to mine the land is enough evidence that the activities of the defendants and their agents will change the state of the land and cause the plaintiffs/applications to suffer irreparable damage that monetary compensation may not be adequate remedy.
The court, therefore, deemed the grant of an injunction as just and convenient and accordingly granted the application for injunction to restrain the defendants until the final determination of the court by the court. Hearing of the substantive case is scheduled for October 9, 2024.
