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Achimota School, one of Ghana�s highly rated second cycle institutions is in the news again, but not for chalking any academic excellence rather, the School, established almost a century ago is under siege as earth-moving machines have pitched camp on its premises feverishly preparing the grounds for the construction of so called first class estates. This is not the first time claimants to portions of Achimota lands have encroached on its premises but the Headmistress of the school, Mrs. Beatrice Adom has assured The New Crusading GUIDE and the general public that �we will not sit down for the plundering of state resources to continue. That is our land and we are meeting them in Court on Monday (today)�. On Wednesday 4th June, 2014, one estate developer only known as Ahiakpor, with caterpillars in tow, stormed the Achimota land opposite the Nigerian owned church, Pure Fire and started felling trees with Policemen providing security for the operation. �I was here on Wednesday when someone came to tell me that earth-moving machines were on our land and so I immediately called the Regional Police Commander to notify him and he promised to dispatch some of his men to come to our aid� According to the Headmistress, she later learnt that the Nii Ako Nortei Family of Osu had secured a Court judgment to own portions of the Achimota land after the family had sued the Lands Commission. �We did not know anything about that Court case until the people stormed our premises. We then managed to get a copy of the said judgment and it makes interesting reading because the family lied to the Court� According to the Plaintiff, the Osu Stool and its subjects had since 1922 remained in possession of the land in dispute using it for purposes such as farming and construction of permanent residential facilities and prayed the Court to give 172.68 acres to the Nii Ako Nortei Family which the Court granted. Indeed in its judgement dated July 28, 2011, the Court, presided over by Justice Anthony Oppong, ruled that the claims by the Osu Stool that its subjects had built permanent places of abode on the Achimota land without any protest from government was not contradicted. �Indeed by the conduct or inaction of the government, the subjects of Osu have been encouraged to believe that their title to the land has not been extinguished in my view, this court will not interfere in any way that might disturb the right of the people of Osu to occupy the land. In other words, the Government of Ghana has sat down unconcerned for the subjects of Osu to develop mansions and to even grant a good chunk of the land to other developers who have constructed permanent structures on the land�In my view, what the plaintiffs and their subjects have done on the land for so many years, over 80 years, was adverse and inconsistent with the acquired rights of the government who failed to do anything by way of protest or raising the least objections,� the Court ruled. However, the Headmistress insists that no family either owned a farm or built a permanent residence on the said Achimota land. �It is not true they have any permanent structures on our land. They also do not have any farms here. In any case, the land was acquired and fully paid for by the colonial government so how can any group now lay claim to the same land again?, she queried. The Achimota School land was acquired in 1921 and according to a document in possession of The New Crusading GUIDE, the colonial government paid the owners 4,000 Pounds to seal the deal The document, dated June 29, 1922, reads, �We the undersigned claimants for the compensation under the Public Lands Ordinance in respect of the above mentioned land hereby agree to accept the sum of four thousand pounds in full satisfaction of all claims which we now have or may hereafter have against the Government of the said Colony for aforesaid.� The document was signed by representatives the Oku We and Owoo families. Mrs. Adom further disclosed that, she officially reported the incident to the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Board of the School and was awaiting directive from the GES. A clearly disturbed Mrs. Adom therefore appealed to the authorities and the general public to come to their aid in securing their property. �People are sitting down unconcerned. This is a government property and we should protect national assets and not allow individuals to grab them anyhow. The plundering must stop somewhere. If we sit down and allow people to take away government lands, posterity will judge us. Where will our children go to school if we are to give away this land to so-called ultra modern estate developers who are even bent on destroying the Achimota forest. A similar thing has happened and now our sewerage system has completely broken down. An attempt to elicit response from the Lands Commission on why it did not deem it necessary to inform both Achimota School and the Forestry Commission on the Court suit hit a snag as Lawyer Yaw Awuku Asabre who represented the Commission in Court was said to be out of the office. The New Crusading GUIDE is also reliably informed that the Forestry Commission was also kept in the dark when the case was ongoing in Court. This paper will tomorrow publish a report of proceedings in Court in the matter Nii Ako Nortei (Plaintiff versus Landsa Commission (Defendant) and Achimota (Claimant). Please stay tuned.