A circuit court judge has warned landowners against the double sale of land or be ready to face punishment.

Jephthah Appau, the Presiding Judge of the Kwadaso Circuit Court in the Kwadaso Municipality of the Ashanti Region, who gave the warning, said the act was not only worrisome to the buyers, but also created tension and confusion in the society and sometimes, negative impressions about traditional leaders.

Mr. Appau gave the warning when he sat as a relieving judge at the Abuakwa circuit court in the Atwima Nwabiagya South Municipality, during which Oheneyere Nana Ama Takyiwaa, a 51-year-old trader, appeared before him on a case involving double sale of land.

He said he had already given the same warning in his court at Kwadaso and that persons charged before him in such cases should be denied bail and placed in lawful custody.

He noted that persons with close relations with traditional rulers sometimes took certain chieftaincy titles upon themselves and sold portions of land to two or more persons without the consent of the chiefs, went into hiding and left the issues on the shoulders of the chiefs in the affected areas.

This, he said, created unnecessary public attacks and criticisms of traditional authorities and this must, therefore, be stopped.

Mr Appau pointed out that, once you sell a piece of land, it means you are no longer the owner, so selling it for the second time was an act of stealing.

He therefore called for public awareness on the warning and shared the information about the need to stop that act.

Oheneyere Nana Ama Takyiwaa pleaded not guilty to the charge of conflicting grant of land to two persons and was granted GH¢3,000 bail, with two sureties to be justified.

She will reappear on May 2, 2025, this year.

Police Chief Inspector Evans Ayimbisah explained to the court that Oheneyere Takyiwaa sold a piece of land to one Baafour Owusu Ansah for GH¢25,000 in the year 2010 and sold same to one Frank Agyei in 2019, at Adwafo near Abuakwa.