Lordeme Family Appeals to IGP for Protection

By Alberto Mario Noretti, Ho

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Mr Asante-Apeatu,IGP

Five members of the Lordeme family from Adaklu-Tsrefe in the Volta Region, have appealed to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr David Asante-Apeatu, to intervene and save them from further harassment and intimidation by the police in respect of a land case involving them and Pesben Investment Company Limited, which is pending before a Ho high court.

The members are Jonas Kwaku Giddey, Kwame Yevu, Emmanuel Akpator and Mawuli Akala.

They said that while their motion on notice for interlocutory injunction was still before court, the police last week arrested and detained the first plaintiff together with the Lordeme family surveyor at the instigation of the second defendant Senanu Afetorgbor, who framed allegations of threat of death against them.

Lawyer for the plaintiffs/applicants, Mr Raymond Akpatsa, said that "this is a deliberate attempt by the defendant to use the police to frustrate and intimidate the plaintiffs and this can be prejudicial to the matter before the court".

In the motion of notice made available to the Ghanaian Times, the plaintiffs were seeking an order to restrain defendants from having anything to do with the disputed land pending the final determination of the substantive case.

The plaintiffs complained that while the instant suit was pending before the court for determination, the defendants/respondents were busily and clandestinely giving tracts of the disputed land to people and marking out boundaries much to the detriment of the plaintiffs/applicants' interest in the land.

The defendants/respondents filed a statement of defence and were yet to file an affidavit in opposition to the motion for the injunction.

Mr Akpatsa said that, "If the defendants/respondents genuinely believe that they have any valid and legitimate claim to the land in dispute, they must show that by waiting on the court to make a determination to that effect than showing such unabashed disrespect for the court's processes".

When contacted, the Volta Regional Crime Officer, Chief Superintendent Wonder Dogbevia, said that the police were not interfering in the land case that was before court.

However, he stated the police were only responding to the complaints of threatening by the defendant and "that is what we are investigating".

The plaintiffs' lawyer rejected that explanation as unacceptable.

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