The elders of Anyaa, a fast developing suburb of Accra, have denied claims by the elders of the Gbawe Kwatei family of Gbawe that they have secured a Supreme Court judgement ruling that Anyaa lands belong to Gbawe. “Gbawe has no land in Anyaa and they know it. The Supreme Court of Ghana has also not ruled anywhere that Anyaa lands belong to the Gbawe Kwatei family, and our silence should not be misconstrued to mean we have admitted the bogus and silly claims made by the Gbawe Kwatei family in The Independent newspaper recently” noted a number of elders from Anyaa in various interviews with the media last week. The elders noted that even if the mischievous and criminal misinterpretation of a Supreme Court judgement in the case of Augustus Kpakpo Brown versus S. Bosumtwi & Company Limited and Adam Kwatei Quartey were to be applied, it would in no way mean that Anyaa lands belong to Gbawe. Speaking in an interview with the Daily Searchlight newspaper, Nii Augustus Kpakpo Brown, the plaintiff in the case whose judgement he insists the people of Gbawe have mischievously misinformed the media about, said any critical examination of the Supreme Court ruling the elders of Gbawe have sought to misinterpret, would show that it is a vindication of our position that the boundaries of Gbawe extends nowhere into Anyaa lands. Quoting the ruling, which was initially given on May 29th, 2002 by the then Justice Eric Piesare and endorsed by the Supreme Court, he said no other authority in this land, apart from the Supreme Court in a review, can vary what the Supreme Court judgement said. The attempt by the people of Gbawe Kwatei family to vary the Supreme Court ruling is therefore criminal and should not be aided by the media. Showing a copy of the judgement to this newspaper, he quoted the Supreme Court judgement, which states: “All that piece of land known as Gbawe Kwartei Family land situate lying at North Western part of Accra and bounded on the North-West by Asere Stool land, on the South-East by Akumajay and Sempe Stool Land and the Sakumo plains on the South-West by the Tetegon Stream, Densu river and James Town Stool land and on the North-West by Djamang Hill, Aboabo Hill, Kubenan Hill and the Atuase Hill and enclosing An approximate area of 9,836,56 acres” Nii Kpakpo Brown explained that the people of Anyaa have not contested the judgement of the Supreme Court because it is okay for us. “By this judgement the boundaries of Gbawe lands have been set.” “How can the elders of Gbawe seek to use this same judgement by varying the stipulated boundaries and going beyond the stipulated boundaries the Supreme Court has set and which they themselves went to argue for in court? How can they say that the Supreme Court has given us judgement and yet not go by the stipulated land boundaries as outlined by Supreme Court on the ground?” Nii Kpakpo Brown asked. “Why are they varying the stipulated boundaries on the grounds and seeking to add more acres on the 9,836.56 acres stated in the judgement” added Abraham Adotei Pappoe, Okyeame for the Anyaa stool. On his part, he said the people of Anyaa have challenged the criminal conduct on the part of the people of Gbawe and dragged them to court on the issue. “Instead of contesting the issues, they have either failed or refused to attend proceedings before the High Court and are seeking to use public opinion to extort monies from residents and other non-indigenes who are largely unaware of this mischief,” he said. “We would not countenance this for long. It must stop and their media collaborators better inform themselves on what the issues at stake are before publishing stories that are materially false” he stated. He said if the criminal misinterpretation of the Supreme Court ruling were to even hold, for the sake of argument, it applies to only a select portion of Anyaa lands, so how can anybody simply say that by virtue of this attempted variation of the Supreme Court judgement, Anyaa lands belong to Gbawe. He expressed worry over the legacy of potential future conflicts such false media reports as appeared in the media could sow. “Can you imagine what the future generation who may not know the truth behind some of these stories would do if they inform themselves of events through these false reports” Okyeame Adotei Pappoe asked. Source: daily searchlight