Stop The Threats And Needless Attacks And Answer The Question Of Sold Out Southern Akim Abuakwa Lands Raised By The Late Dr. J. B. Danquah

This statement is in response to the press release by Ofori Panin Fie dated 12/07/2022 attacking me as a person, my business, Koans Building Solutions Ltd and other reputable institutions like the lands commission of Ghana as being fraudsters. Here, Okyehene and his Ofori Panin Fie claimed that, it was provoked by an article I wrote entitled, “Setting the records straight on Akim Aboakwa lands.” This was edited and republished by Chronicle, Crusading Guide and some other media houses quite recently.

One would have thought that they would use the opportunity to address the main issues raised in the said article, which points out certain historical facts written by the late Dr. J. B. Danquah. The learned and a Royal member of the Akim Abuakwa traditional Council. His integrity was never in doubt. He is always remembered as one of the founding fathers of the current ruling NPP who claim to hail from the Danquah – Busia Tradition of the old. In one of his summary write ups about the state of Akim Abuakwa Southern Lands way back in 1918, he wrote this“ I do not want to single out anyone of the chiefs as being the greatest culprit in the sale of land, but in order that you have a concrete example before you of how rapidly mother Abuakwa is being dismembered, I should like you to recall that about 98% of the land from Densu at Nsawam to Densuso (Apedwa) has been sold out absolutely and for all times……. Land to the left and right of Nsawam road to a distance of 10 to 25 miles on either side of the road have been sold out.

The same tale can be told of the Northern boundary of the state roundabout at Asuom; and you are of course aware that the town of Oda ( Capital of the west Akim) and surroundings villages are situating on land sold by Akim Abuakwa.” – source ( An epistle of the educated young man of Akim Abuakwa, 1928) SEE PAGE 22 OF THE MIGRANT COCOA FARMERS OF SOUTHERN GHANA, A STUDY IN RURAL CAPITALISM by POLLY HILL.

As a business that has acquired over 8000 acres of fully registered land within the said enclave we find this statement quite necessary if the issue of ownership is to be settled once and for all hence the publication we made.

Surprisingly, instead of Ofori Panin Fie responding to the truth or otherwise of these all important claim by the late Dr. J. B. Danquah, they chose to use insult, false accusations, and statements that seeks to suggest openly that they influenced the judgement delivered by the Appeals Court and that of the high court in the case of Koans V. Gimpa. We as a company have always tried hard to keep it out of the public domain because the case is still pending at the appeal’s court. Unfortunately we are compelled under the circumstances to bring it out once more since they claim it is the answer to the question of ownership of the Akim Abuakwa southern lands.

The Back Ground to the Gimpa Business

I always thought that, our current issues with GIMPA have no genuine legal reasoning but rather purely base on tribal influence. At first I doubted if Okyenehene and for that matter the so called Ofori Panin Fie could be the reason for the blockage of the said payments and all other issue they are falsely alleging. My doubts started fading out when one Bashiru called Wofa Yaw and told him of the outcome of the appeal court’s judgement although the judgement by then was not yet out. This press release has finally erased any doubt left in my mind that the said judgement was compromised. Our decision to appeal therefore is in order and I believe same to be true. It is a shame how this can happen in a democratic nation governed by the rule of law.

That said, I am of the opinion that members of the Ofori Panin fie lack the requisite integrity to lead the good people of Akyem Aboakwa and my reasons are as follows:

In 2013, Okyehe and his late Mponua Hene named Nana Mbea ( I ) teamed up with one Nana Poku alias Bashiru who claim to be the deputy Chief of Staff to sell some large tract of land to GIMPA Senior Lecturers Association. After collecting a hooping amount of GHC100,000.00, ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND GHANA CEDIS from the association, they gave them documents to conduct a search at the Koforidua lands commission in order to ascertain the true ownership of the land. It came out that the said lands belongs to Koans Building Solutions Ltd. I had to step in to help solve the problem to avoid a criminal action taken against them. In the end, the matter was resolved by my company by replacing the members of the said association with almost 200 plots of land at Panpanso in the Eastern Region with the same documents he claims to have been forged today in his press release hence the integrity issues.

The Actual Gimpa Deal:

The actual GIMPA land deal came through because the school was looking for a place to do an expansion to include a medical school. Something similar to the Legon Medical School built by the Ex- president H.E. J.D Mahama and opened by the present administration. As a company, we had given their senior lecturers about 200 plots of land to buy. We were in the process of designing affordable houses for them. So it was only appropriate that in looking for somewhere to do expansion, they consider our company first because most of their human resource base are now heading to Panpanso our place. They therefore opted to buy (1,000 acres ) acres of land from us. Contract documents were prepared and signed by both parties and payments begun in 2014 and was expected to last for six years. By this time, I have managed to engage all the possible stake holders in the project to sign an agreement to the effect that peace be prevailed for the purposes of development within the area. The excepts of the said agreement dated 23/11/2022 is as follows:

1. Okyehene and his allies recognize the Supreme court’s Judgement date 14th June 1905, in favor of the mankata family and against Apedwa and Okyehene
2. That said judgement plan is to be plotted instead of the declaration by Nana mankata family in 1988
3. That all transactions between Nana Mankata Family and Koans have been endorsed by Okyene and his allies as being valid and free from all possible litigations.
4. That there will not be any litigation whatsoever between Mankata Family and Okyehene and that all misunderstanding arising between parties will be settled amicably between them.
5. Mankata promised to give Okyehene and Apedwa a total of 3500 acres out of their 27,000 acres of land registered.

These and so many other important issues were ironed out in the process. Attached are copies of the detailed agreement for your reference.

Base on this understanding, we believed that there was not going to be any further confrontations from any angle. Gimpa’s deal was well executed and all parties involved had their fair share of the deal. In all, a total of not less that (GHC1,000,000.OO) One Million Cedis has been paid to Okyehene and his allies from the Gimpa deal. Money mainly paid at the Adabraka Palace instead of Ofori Panin Fie in Kibi.

We are therefore surprise that he should be the one to celebrate over the non payment of the said amount when you and I were directly involved and beneficiaries of the this transaction.Well, I think that it all boils down to the issue of integrity as already mentioned.This is because you cannot seek to enjoy from a fraudulent transaction during one regime, and in another regime, run away and decide to label the same transaction that saved you from a possible jail sentence as fraudulent.

We can therefore say that Okyehene has big integrity issues which needs to be addressed unless he chooses to disassociate himself from the above publication which seems to suggest that he has never had an encounter whatsoever with neither Koans nor it C.E.O Kofi Anokye.

From the above narrative my recommendations are as follows:

1. Okyehene and his Ofori Panin Fie should come again to answer questions on the wild claim by the late Dr. J.B Danquah that, “they have sold out over 98 o/o of the southern portion of the Akyem Abuakwa lands” instead of attacking me and my company.
2. That the Okyehene Fie should know that you can not have allodial ownership to lands you have sold outright and for all times.
3. That Koans’ Panpanso’s Lands were genuinely acquired and registered at the Lands Commission from Mankata Family who had also legally acquired through the operations of the law by the Supreme Court of Gold Coast Dated 14th June 1905, before his Honor Sir W. Brandford Griffith, Knite Chief Justice in the Law suite case titled “Chief Jatchi vrs. Kobina Inkum.” In this case, judgement was given in favor of Kobina Nkum the defendant who was once the Head of the Mankata family. Subsequently, a declaration base on the above judgement was obtained by the said Mankata family in 1988. Base on this imperial records, a portion totaling about 4000 acres out of the 27,000 acres of land declared in the judgement as well as in their declaration was sold to us for valuable consideration. We have duly registered them at the Koforidua lands commission hence a genuine document and not a fictitious one as you claim.
4. That the said Nana Mankata (V) in his life time was crowned as a “BARIMA” by your good selves and I don’t think Okyehe and the members of Ofori Panin Fie are stupid enough to crown thieves and armed rubbers who will steal the lands and sold them as their BARIMA as you people are claiming today.
5. That your signed peace agreement dated 23/11/2014 between your office and Nana Mankata’s is a clear admission of the fact that you don’t have any land so far as Panpanso is concern and same is the case for all the southern abuakwa lands
6. That Koans Teacher Mante – Kyekyewereh lands measuring approximately 2300 acres was also legally and genuinely acquired from Quasah family of Accra haven authenticated the following records: i. purchased from both Apedwa and Apapam in 1904 – 1905 (ii) Judgement dated 24th August 1914 by Sir Nana Ofori Atta (I ) in favor of Quansah Family ( iii) A statutory declaration dated 17th November 1973 (IV) Judgement dated 17th September 1984 delivered by Mr. Justice H. B. Apatu – Plange Justice of the High Court, Koforidua. Base on these records, the family transferred a portion of their interest to our company for a valuable consideration. the said property is fully registered at the lands commission which Ofori Panin Fie is fully aware of the said fact.
7. That the general public is hereby advice to desist from purchasing lands directly from Okyehene and Ofori Panin Fie without conducting an official search at the lands commission to know the true owners of the said property as the law demands else they fall as prey like many of their victims today. Have a site plan and indenture from Ofori Panin does not guarantee you a title when the said property is registered in another person or entity’s name.
8. That Okyehene and Oforipanin Fie are hereby advise to go to court and seek redress if they sense any fraudulent act at the lands commission instead of taking the law into their own hands. For we are governed by the rules and regulations as a nation.
9. That Okyehene and Ofori Panin Fie can not create land guards group and decide to rename them as task force when they don’t have any title to land they claim to protect, that will be a criminal offense.
10. That Gimpa as an institution and the Judges who presided over the Koans v. Gimpa cases should come clear on the above claim by the Okyehene that they influenced the course of justice in the said mentioned case though the matter is still pending appeal court.
11. That Okyehene is advised to learn to use Love, and diplomacy as his main weapons instead of force in his quest to reconcile the people who are occupying those sold out properties back to himself. For the former was the only weapon used by God Almighty to conquer man back to himself when the rebel man decided to walk away from God. Love, the greatest of all weapons!!!
12. That Kofi Anokye will not be wimped out by the threats and intimidations of the season towards the entire business community of this country, which has seen a lot of my business colleagues wither out, neither will I also abdicate from my Christian principles, Social and leadership obligation of ensuring equity, provision of sustainable employment, and hope for all people I come into contact with, regardless of their tribe or any form of affiliation.
13. For to hear the truth and not accept it does not nullify the truth. (By Brotherhood Journal.)

Signed

Kofi Anokye

(C.E.O Koans Group)

Dated 18/07/2022