Pokuase land dispute - ACP Estate stay of execution fails
Real estate giant, ACP Estate Limited (ACPEL), has failed to halt the execution of a court judgment for it to return undeveloped portions of a 200-acre land at Pokuase to the Nii Dodoo Clottey Family.
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In the application for stay of execution, the company wanted the Accra High Court to suspend the execution of the judgment pending the determination of its appeal at the Court of Appeal challenging the judgment.
However, in a ruling, the High Court, presided over by Justice Kwame Gyamfi Osei, dismissed the application on the basis that ACPEL had not demonstrated any exceptional circumstance to warrant a stay of execution of the judgment.
“There is no exceptional circumstance to justify the stay of execution.
The plain truth is that the Applicant has virtually defrauded the Respondents family without the Nii Dodoo Clottey Family getting anything in return for the past 32 years,” he said.
After dismissing the application, the court slapped ACPEL with a cost of GHC5,000.
Judgment
On March 10, this year, the court ordered ACPEL to return the land to the Nii Dodoo Family for breaching an agreement between the two parties with regard to the development of a 600-acre land.
Justice Osei held that ACPEL failed to honour its obligations under a joint venture agreement (JVA) it signed with the family on October 22, 1991 to provide the entire 600 acres with access roads, drains, electricity and water.
In view of ACPEL having breached its obligations under the agreement, the court held that the JVA was unenforceable, and therefore, abrogated, with all the undeveloped lands on the 200 acres which the family gave to the company as part of the agreement reverting to the family.
Compensation/ rent
The court further ordered ACPEL to refund GH¢9.5 million to the family. It was part of compensation paid by the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) for usage of part of the land.
It was the considered view of the court that the only benefit that accrued to the ACPEL under the JVA was the construction of houses on the 200-acre land for sale, not claiming compensation on undeveloped portions of the land.
“Why should a court of justice look on for the plaintiff, who has blatantly cheated the defendant family be made to keep that compensation money, which said money could help the defendant family develop the abandoned 400 acres?” it quizzed.
Again, the court ordered the ACPEL to pay to the family rent from November 2001 to date on the land it had developed.
The rent, it said, would be based on the prevailing bank and interest rates, after a rent assessment by the Administrator of Stool Lands.
It gave the judgement after it had dismissed a suit filed by the ACPEL and upheld a counter-claim filed by the Nii Dodoo Clottey Family.
Background
Per court documents, the Nii Dodoo Clottey Family of Pokuase decided to turn their 600-acre land into an integrated modern residential town.
In pursuant of that, on October 22, 1991, the family entered into the JVA with the ACPEL.
Under the agreement, the ACPEL was supposed to provide access roads, drains, electricity and water on the 600-acre land, with the family having exclusive control to allocate and sell 400 acres of the land
The family leased the remaining 200 acres to ACPEL for 99 years for the real estate company to build houses and sell them for its (company’s) benefit.
Per the agreement, the company was supposed to provide the access roads, drains, electricity and water on the entire 600-acre land without discrimination, meaning it could not provide the amenities only on its 200 acres, to the detriment of the 400 acres under the control of the family.
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