The Sege District Court presided over by Narh Awah has thrown out another suit brought before it by the long-standing opponents of the Ackwerh family of Hwakpo.

The linguist of the self-styled Chief of Hwakpo, Normotey Nartey, and one Gbagbe Nartey were in court to pray it to enforce arbitration proceedings and judgment by the queen mother of Matsekope, Naana Adu Akrofi l, to revert a land the Ackwerhs had developed to them.

On June 9, 2011, the applicants said that they and the respondents appeared before Naana Adu Akrofi over a plot of land at Hwakpo where the Ackwerhs, who have successively won cases challenging their legitimacy as royals of Hwakpo in the courts, have currently built their family home.

The applicants held that at the said arbitration, the queen mother ruled in their favour.

The applicants, therefore, wanted the court to enforce the said judgement by the queen mother of Matsekope.
By that, they (the applicants) would have the legitimacy to take over all land the defendants had developed.

However, after considering the petition before it, the court said the claim was unmeritorious, incompetent, and an abuse of the court process.

The court dismissed the application and fined the applicant ¢1,500.

In an interview with the defendant, Freddie Ackwerh observed that the action by the complainants was a diversionary tactic aimed at buying time and running from the ongoing criminal charges against them and the self-styled chief for illegally demolishing the construction of their building.

"They are the ones who brought us to the court, but because the court stands for justice and fairness, truth and justice have prevailed once again," he noted.

The Ackwerhs had come under several attacks from a self-styled chief who considered the family a threat to his illegitimate position.

On August 31, 2021, the West Ada District Police Commander led personnel to arrest Isaac Adi Buertey Puplampu, the self-styled chief of Hwakpo, for leading some thugs to illegally raze a property on the land in question.

Details on the criminal case

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) George Aboagye trailed the suspect to the Ada Traditional Council, where he had appeared before a three-member committee on a chieftaincy dispute.

Immediately proceedings commenced, a female CID, holding handcuffs, entered the traditional courtroom to seek an audience to pick Isaac Adi Buertey for allegedly mobilising some young men to destroy the building of his rival, the Ackwehs, who was challenging his legitimacy as the chief of Hwakpo, at the Traditional Council.

But after a brief interaction between the CID and the Council's Registrar outside the room, the CID, in the company of three police personnel and the Commander DSP Aboagye, waited outside for the hearing to close to pounce on the suspect, who, the police said had ignored their invitations since his alleged action on August 29, 2021.

As soon as the Traditional Council adjourned the hearing and awarded ¢1,500 cost against the Ackwerhs, the complainants, to go and amend their plea, DSP Aboagye and his men dashed to grab Isaac Adi Buertey Puplampu outside.

Though Adi Buertey's counsel pleaded to be allowed to hand him over to the police, the District Police Commander declined.

As soon as the police arrived at the Sege District Police Headquarters with the suspect, they threw him behind the counter, where some cell inmates were heard welcoming Isaac Adi Buertey.

Interrogating him before his counsel on the illegal demolition of the structure at Hwakpo without a court order, Isaac Adi Buertey Puplampu told DSP Aboagye that he ordered only two of his boys to carry out the unlawful exercise.

He insisted that Isaac Adi Buertey Puplampu had already mentioned the names and locations of the two boys he admitted instructing to destroy the building without a court order.

"We need the names and the whereabouts of the two accomplices to assist the police in their investigations," DSP Aboagye held while the suspect's counsel still pushed for bail for his client. The commander, therefore, opposed the bail request.

After taking the suspect's statement, the East Ada Divisional Commander ordered the receipt of the docket while the suspect was kept in police custody.

The police later granted the main suspect, in this case, a police enquiry bail while investigations continued.

The investigation and video evidence at their disposal led the police to pick up the six suspects who appeared in court on Monday when three resisted arrest by fighting the police in front of the court building.