Trassaco petitions government to intervene in land dispute with Topkings

Empire State Builders, a subsidiary of real estate giants Trassaco Group, has issued a two-week ultimatum to the government of Ghana to intervene in what it describes as an attempt to convert some parcels of land it has legally acquired.

The company at a press conference held at its head office in Accra on Tuesday, February 31, 2023, explained that Topkings Enterprises Limited with the help of “land guards (which is illegal), some members of the Nungua Stool and men wearing the Ghana Armed Forces uniform, have trespassed onto the land of Empire Builders Limited.”

The company added that Topkings with quasi security forces “...brutally attacked the company’s workers; demolished the company’s property; cleared part of the company’s land, and is preparing to sell the company’s land to unsuspecting members of the public.”

This development according to Empire Builders is on the back of a long-standing dispute between the two companies over the land in question located at Adjiriganor in the East Legon enclave of the Greater Accra Region.

Briefing the media about the history of the said land, the company said it acquired the land as far back as 1977 when the founder of Empire Builders, Baron Fiore Ernesto Taricone, acquired it from the Nii Ashong Mlitse Family of Odaitei Tse We.

The company said it had been developing the land without any issues until 1998 when it noticed encroachment activities on the land by Topkings Enterprises Limited.

A legal battle between the two companies which commenced at a High Court in 1999, ended in a Supreme Court appeal which according to the company, saw the court affirm its interest in the said land, albeit with 22 and 32 acres being allocated to Topkings by the court.

Despite the ruling of the court however, the company belonging to the Trassaco group said Topkings Limited through the support of some individuals have trespassed into its portions of the land.

“Every effort of Empire Builders Limited to protect its land has been met with brute force from these men parading as soldiers,” Public Relations Consultant of Empire Builders, Kwame Owusu Danso told the media on Monday.

He noted that the activities of the encroachers is putting the jobs of some 4,000 employees, some of whom have been victims of the brutality, at risk.

The workers are therefore appealing to the government and all relevant security agencies including the National Security to intervene in the matter.

According to workers, they will be left with no option but to stage a public protest to register their sentiments should the state fail to intervene in the matter.

“It appears that Topkings Enterprise Limited is operating with the support of some high-level authority, which accounts for the use of soldiers in the land guard activities. Why are military men on the ground able to drive the police away whenever the police try to intervene and maintain peace? Who is giving the orders to the soldiers of the Ghana Armed Forces to engage in these land guard activities? We demand that the soldiers are immediately withdrawn from the land and restrained from committing further activities,” the statement stressed.

GA/SARA