Land battle between Apostolic Faith Mission, Mohammed Odartey Lamptey- SC ‘neutralizes’ Letter from Above

The Supreme Court of Ghana has in a significant manner made a decision that will certainly go a long way to end the phenomenon of executive interference, especially in the area of land ownership and registration at the Lands Commission, which has been a ‘neck raider’ for many in Ghana and denied them their rightful purchased lands.

This was in the case of Mohammed Odartey Lamptey and Degraft Osei Kwame’s Apostolic Faith Mission, which has raged on for a while now in other courts.

Correspondent Richard Osei Boateng reports that in July 2023, when this case first came before their Lordships, the plaintiff told the court that even though he had first purchased the said land and duly registered it, he later found out that the church also possessed a registered title as owners of the same land on which its building was subsequently constructed.

Letter from above

When confronted by the court, especially on the above, counsel for the Lands Commission revealed that his outfit had received a letter from the Jubilee House that ordered them to cede the said land to the church.

At this point, their lordships became very incensed and asked about the whereabouts of the said letter, but were shocked to learn that it had not been filed since it was from above.

Then this followed: ‘Who are we then?” and “You are in the highest court of the land, telling us that we can not see a letter you have seen?” their lordships made bare.

Subsequently, an order was made by the court to the Lands Commission to file the letter before the next adjourned date for the court’s perusal.

At the next adjourned date, the court ‘neutralized’ the said letter and made an order for the parties to settle on suitable alternative land for Mr. Odartey Lamptey.

Failure of settlement

However, when the case was called on February 14, 2024, which ironically happened to be the ‘Day of Love’, the parties had not been able to settle on the said suitable alternative land.

Martin Kpebu, counsel for the church, told the court that his side had identified lands in the Gbawe and Bortianor areas for that purpose, but the plaintiff had turned down the offer.

The Lands Commission also noted that they had set aside state land in the Amrahia area to ‘pacify’ the plaintiff, but the same had proven futile.

At this point, the five-member panel, presided over by Pwamang JSC and consisting of Lovelace, Tanko, Mensa-Bonsu, and Koomson JJSC, told the plaintiff’s lawyer to speak to his client to loosen up on his demand and specification.

The court added that, as the highest court, ‘it had nothing more to do’ and thus left it for the parties to talk further and settle on either money or kind for the due settlement of Mr. Odartey Lamptey.