An official opening of the Spintex Road shopping mall of Orca Deco Ltd. was disrupted by elders and members of the Nungua Stool who stormed the premises over the land on which it built the shops.
Leaders and members of the Nungua Stool who stormed the premises also called on the management of Orca Deco Co Ltd., who have unduly taken over their landed property at the Spintex Road, to respect the laws of Ghana or face their wrath.
According to the angry leaders, including youth groups from Nungua who stormed the premises of Orca Deco Co Ltd, clad in red armbands and singing chanting war songs, a court has granted an interlocutory injunction against the company restraining it from entering or further developing the land until final determination of the case, but management flouted the order.
The people from Nungua, who are said to be the owners of the said land, said they were informed about the opening ceremony which was to be held yesterday and that, triggered their action to stop the company and ensure that the right thing is done.
There was near stampede at the premises of Orca Deco Ltd. but it took the intervention of the police and military to calm nerves.
According to Nii Afotey Gbetse, a Divisional Chief of Nungua, all indications had confirmed that Orca Deco Co Ltd. encroached on the land and had refused to engage the owners of the land in finding amicable solution to the problems.
He said, although there was an interlocutory injunction, coupled with an alleged police order to stop the project, management ignored the orders and caused workers to work in the night until the project was completed.
Nii Afotey Gbetse explained Orca Deco Co Ltd. and Cemonit Ghana Ltd. were ordered by the High Court not to interfere with a disputed land situated and lying at Spintex Road in Suit No: LD / 0345 / 2021, till the final determination of the suit.
However, in defiance to the court orders, the companies, Cemonit Ghana Ltd. and Orca Deco Co Ltd., allegedly continued with their construction work, working day and night under heavy security protection, he said.
He explained that the application for the injunction was granted since May, 2021 and yet, the company continued to defy the court order to erect the gigantic structure on the land within a very short period.
“We are surprised to see a foreign company like Orca Deco flouting the orders of a Ghanaian Court. We will not sit down and allow that to continue. This land belongs to us and we will not allow anybody to take it. We have called them on several occasions for us to sit and see the way forward, but they refused. That is how come we ended up in court. And the court has given an order against them,” he said in anger.
All efforts to get the officials of the company to react to the claim by the Nungua people proved futile.
By Times Reporter
