….Court hears explosive collusion and forgery allegations
A Kumasi-based private legal practitioner, Edwin Poku, has called for the immediate dissolution of the Lands Commission, Kumasi, accusing it of colluding with the Ashantihene Stool Lands Secretariat to illegally appropriate lands from Ghanaian citizens and redistribute them to foreign interests.
Mr. Poku made the call during a heated cross-examination at the Kumasi High Court, where he is representing himself in a civil suit brought against him by four of his first cousins, namely Yvonne Appiah Poku, Ida Gisela Osei, Eleanor Opoku, and Hanetta Hayford, over ownership of a prime land property located at Adum, Kumasi, which he bought from executors of his late father’s estate.
The disputed property, known as Plot No. 83, Block 20, Section 5036 (OTA Layout), was originally acquired in 1972 by Mr. Poku’s late father, Francis Kojo Poku, a renowned businessman popularly known as “Poku Transport,” from Ghana Property Limited.
According to Mr. Poku, the Ashantihene Stool Lands Secretariat and some officials at the Kumasi Lands Commission have been engaged in underhand dealings, allocating lands, including the contested Adum property, to individuals with questionable claims, often while cases are still pending before the courts.
Mr. Poku told the court, presided over by Justice Frederick Tetteh, that the Lands Commission in Kumasi, in collusion with the Ashantihene Lands Secretariat, continues to grab lands that rightfully belong to Ghanaians and secretly reassign them to foreigners, adding, “This is illegal and must stop.”
In the courtroom, Mr. Poku accused the Lands Commission of deliberately altering land documents to strip him of legal ownership. He pointed to the Title Deeds covering the property in question, which he said were riddled with cancellations and suspicious amendments.
He noted that this was a fraudulent attempt by the Lands Commission to overreach him, as the documents tendered in court by the witness had been tampered with and backdated. The Commissioner’s name was not mentioned in the lease.
The court also heard from a subpoenaed witness, Augustine Obeng Gyasi, a senior officer at the Lands Commission, who was grilled by Mr. Poku on whether the state had ever held the Adum lands in trust for the Golden Stool, the traditional seat of the Ashanti region.
Mr. Obeng Gyasi maintained that a distinction exists between state-acquired lands and vested lands, asserting that about 400 acres were released by the government to the Golden Stool for specific purposes, such as residential and hospitality developments. He also acknowledged that Kumasi town lands, also known as Part I Lands, are held in trust by the government on behalf of the Golden Stool.
However, Mr. Poku challenged this narrative, arguing that historical leases from 1920 to 1974 did not refer to the Golden Stool as a trustee. He claimed that recent documents, including Exhibit B8, which states the Lands Commission holds Kumasi land in trust for the Golden Stool, were forgeries produced using modern technology and backdated.
“You can’t have a computer printout from 1974. That technology didn’t even exist in Ghana at that time,” Mr. Poku argued.
Counsel for the plaintiffs objected to several of Mr. Poku’s questions, saying they were irrelevant to the matter at hand, which was whether Mr. Poku had legally reacquired the property after his father’s lease expired in 2005.
“The root of title for both parties is the same,” plaintiff’s counsel said. “The only issue is whether the defendant legally reacquired the property. All these diversions into Ashantihene’s authority are irrelevant.”
Despite the objections, Mr. Poku held firm, alleging that the plaintiffs’ acquisition of the land was unlawful and supported by manipulated documents. He promised to expose the full extent of the alleged fraud during the trial’s closing arguments.
The case continues in the Kumasi High Court, with the next hearing scheduled for November.
