DR. SAMUEL GEPI-ATTEE vs. THE MUNICIPAL CHIEF EXECUTIVE & THE MUNICIPAL ENGINEER

The Plaintiff, Dr. Samuel Gepi-Attee, and his late wife acquired an 11.239-acre parcel of land at Oyarifa, Greater Accra Region, with a lease and land certificate dated 1986 and 1996 respectively. He developed the land based on oral assurances from the Amasaman Town and Country Planning authority that he could build despite the area not being mapped, with a promise that his development would be incorporated in future layouts. Subsequent layouts did not include his development, leading to correspondence and meetings with successive assemblies (Amasaman, Abokobi, and La Nkwantanang-Madina). In 2019 and 2020, officers of the La Nkwantanang-Madina Municipal Assembly demolished parts of his property (a wall and an outhouse) allegedly because they encroached on a designated road. The Plaintiff sued the Municipal Chief Executive and Municipal Engineer for unlawful demolition and trespass, seeking declarations of ownership, injunctions, damages, and costs.

JUDGMENT GIFTY AGYEI ADDO JA INTRODUCTION Per the notice of appeal filed on 19th January 2023, the Defendants/Appellants invite this Court to set aside the decision of the Labour Division of the High Court, Accra, which decision was delivered on 28th November 2022, in favour of the Plaintiff/Defendant. In this appeal, the designation of the parties at the court below, that is the Plaintiff and Defendants, shall be maintained for ease of reference. THE CASE OF THE PLAINTIFF The gravamen of the Plaintiff’s case at the court below relevant to this appeal as gleaned from his statement of claim filed on 15th June 2020, can be summed up as follows: According to the Plaintiff, he and his late wife obtained a lease and subsequently a land certificate dated 8th June 1986 and 7th March 1996 respectively, in respect of an 11.239-acre parcel of land situate at Oyarifa in the Greater Accra Region, which land they acquired from the La Agba We family of Oyarifa, Accra. It is the furt.....