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Workers of King George Construction Limited have been seen busily working on a piece of land situated at Derby Avenue in Accra, even though the Addawoo Gbor Family has filed a writ at the High Court restraining further work on the said piece of land.

The actions by workers of King George construction Limited, which is doing the construction on behalf of Mr. George Mireku, could pass for Contempt of Court since it is believed that they are in clear breach of the Interlocutory Injunction application filed against them.

According to a Writ of Summons filed on February 10, 2016 by the Addawoo Gbor Family led by Benjamin Abbey Addawoo against George Yaw Mireku and King George Construction Limited, the plaintiff (Benjamin Abbey Addawoo) said, the defendants without the consent of the Addawoo Gbor Family entered their property, demolished a building and excavated the top soil about 14 feet below to begin the construction of another building.

In his statement of claim, Benjamin Abbey Addawoo indicated that somewhere in 1896, their grandfather, Joseph Larbi Addawoo acquired a parcel of land situated at the corner of Beach Avenue and Derby Avenue in Accra, measuring about 189 feet by 185 feet.

“On 18th September 1916, the said Joseph Larbi Addawoo leased part of the land to Messrs F & A Swanzy Limited of London and Accra of which other companies succeeded Messrs F & A Swanzy Limited including Premium African Textiles (GTP) who took their present lease from the Addawoo Gbor family.”

The Plaintiff also stated that their grandfather, Joseph Larbi Addawoo, reserved portions of the larger parcel of the land for himself but upon his death in 1935, the property became a family property and has since been in possession and control of the family until; the defendant came onto the land and pulled their building down.

“The Defendants having trespassed on the property and wrongfully excavating the soil on the land did not abide by the 10 feet boundary distance between buildings to the extent that the Defendants excavated all the top soil up to the walls and foundation of building originally leased to F & A Swanzy Limited but now occupied by African Premium Textiles (GTP). The structural stability of the building is now in jeopardy,” he stated in his statement of claim.

The Plaintiff also mentioned that the excavation of the soil by the Defendants has caused the walls of the Plaintiff’s building occupied by GTP to develop extensive cracks all over and also damaged an underground septic tank.

He noted that the Defendants have caused so many damages to the land and adjourning property, and that until the Court restrains the Defendants they would continue trespassing on the land which could breed disaster.

Also, in an Application for Interlocutory Injunction the Plaintiff, Benjamin Abbey Addawoo presented the same facts and indicated that the actions and activities of the Defendants on the land fit for the granting of an interlocutory injunction to restrain the Defendants, their agents, assigns or workmen from further trespassing on the land until the final determination of the substantive case.

The Danger Of The Construction:

It has been evidently clear that, traders and passersby within the Central Business District of Accra between the Rawlings Park and UTC  could witness another disaster which planning engineers say, could be fatal if not prevented.

Because of the excavation going on in the area, many structures including houses and shops will suffer the brunt since George Yaw Mireku a.k.a King George Enterprise, who claimed to have purchased a property in the area has also failed to use laterite as instructed to fill the excavated area.

Information gathered indicated that the Works Department of the AMA had failed to do due diligence on the ownership of the property before giving permit to George Mireku to carry out the demolition of the property.

It has also emerged that, per documents from the Lands Commission, the said property is in the name of Joseph Larbi Addawoo.

Our visit to the site revealed that George Mireku and his company are using ordinary sand to do the filling even though he was ordered to use laterite.

Residents, shop owners and affected individuals haven sensed danger at the degree of damage the digging of the basement caused to their buildings and how fatal it could be in the event of collapse, complaint to the A.M.A which invited George Yaw Mireku over the matter.

According to information, the A.M.A ordered George Yaw Mireku to repair the damage caused to all the affected buildings with designs and specifications but he failed to do so, saying that the cost involve in the repair to the damage he had created after digging the ground is too expensive and tried to improvise his own methods to reduce cost.

Meanwhile, checks at the Lands Commission indicated that the indenture he submitted to the A.M.A for which permit was given seemed questionable since the area demarcation does not correspond with dimensions on the document he has and claims to contain.

Traders lamenting on the issue noted that the disaster yet to come, even though has been witnessed by the A.M.A Engineers during an inspection by the Mayor of Accra, Dr. Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije seemed to have been ignored, resulting in cracks in surrounding buildings (GTP House) are gradually expanding by inches on a daily base.