GH�42,000 Balloons To GH�993,000 As Judg't Debt

A SIXTY-EIGHT acre of land valued at GH�42, 000.00 in the year 2000 has now ballooned to become a judgment debt sum of GH�993, 000 as of September 2013, according to the counsel for Jasikan District Assembly, Kwasi Busumpim. Testifying before the Judgment Debt Commission chaired by Justice Yaw Apau in respect of a land acquired by government meant for the Jasikan district assembly from the family of Batimia, counsel said the matter taken to court was done pre-maturely. His testimony was supported by the regional lands officer of the Volta region, Quamie Tsra who also told the commission that the processes that land acquisition has to go through had not been terminated before Seth Dumoga rushed to court in the name of Sam Krankyi Atta, ably supported by an attorney who had been procured by Nana Sam Krankyi Atta not for the purposes of litigation, but for transactions related to payment of compensation in respect of land belonging to the Batimia family. Lawyer Busumpim said, �In the year 2000, the land was valued at �421, 000.00 (Old Cedis). My Lord at the time they gave judgment it ballooned to 760, 000.00 and a letter I sighted in September last year showed that it has now gone up to GH�993, 000.00. �My Lord to the best of my knowledge, with such debt the interest is supposed to be calculated if at all on simple interest and I am wondering how 42, 000.00 within a matter of 12 years could balloon to over 993, almost ten billion,� he explained. But, counsel of the commission reminded Seth Dumoga, the lawyer who went to court on behalf of Nana Sankrakye Atta that they used fixed interest rate of 30% percent to make the calculation so that resulted in the huge debt. Interestingly, Nana Sankrakye Atta who was said to have sued government for the said compensation told the commission that as far as he was concerned, he never hired any lawyer nor went to court to claim a judgment on behalf of the family. He only told the commission earlier that, he gave a power of attorney to one Ebenezer Ofori to work on the transactions of the compensation and after delegating the said power, Ebenezer Ofori could not be traced and later heard in the media that he had taken government to court and won judgment. Though the commission subpoenaed Seth Dumoga to appear yesterday together with Nana Sankrakye, the latter appeared but the former wrote to the commission that he was out of the country. On his part, the District Chief Executive of Jasikan Killian Kwame Abrampa told the commission they did not occupy the whole of the 68 acres, but instead 17.8 acres and a lot of the remaining land has been encroached upon by developers. He tendered documents about the said land and further told the commission that they were not part of the ligation in court in 2008 resulting in default judgment in 2008. Though they were served with processes they were never sued and never made part of the case, yet their property including cars, fridges and computers were attached to be sold in fulfillment of the judgment that was procured by Seth Domuga in the case. But, the lawyer of the assembly made certain representation to the court and their property has been released to them. The land officer, Quamie Tsra said the process to fully acquire a land had not been fully completed and so Nana Sankrankye went to court pre-maturely and procured a judgment. The DCE, Nana Sankrakye Atta and the Regional Land Officer appeared before the commission in respect of the case titled Nana Sankrakye Atta versus the attorney general, the regional land officer and the local government representative to highlight on certain issues relating to an accusation that was made in respect of a land that was meant for the Jasikan District Assembly out of a total of 68 acres of land.