Dispute over Achimota school rages on

Story: Albert K. Salia
THE protracted dispute over ownership of the Achimota Preparatory and Junior Secondary School (JSS) has deepened with the two contending forces, Achimota Secondary School and the management of the basic school, both earning the legal rights.
Over the past week, both institutions obtained court orders vesting the ownership of the basic school in their hands.
The Achimota Secondary School was the first to obtain the order to close down the Achimota Preparatory and JSS but immediately following that the IMC of the basic school also secured a court order to re-open the school to prepare for the next academic year.
The confusion and court orders came in the wake of the substantive case pending at the Court of Appeal.
The Tesano District Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Philip Dugah, confirmed in an interview that one of the orders was came with a letter requesting for police assistance to close down the school while the second for the re-opening of the school did not have any such request.
He said in spite of the conflicting developments, all was calm at the school and said the police would only intervene in case there was a breach of the peace since the substantive case was in court.
The Board Secretary to Achimota Preparatory and JSS, Mr Daniel Kweku Brentuo, told the Daily Graphic that authorities of Achimota Secondary School obtained what was supposed to be an order from a High Court to close down the school and proceeded to do so on Friday, August 10, 2007.
He said the authorities removed the signpost of the Achimota Preparatory and JSS and erected a new signpost with the inscription “Achimota Nursery School”.
Mr Brentuo said the school authorities further repainted the premises in different colours with a conspicuous inscription “Achimota Nursery School” on one of the walls of the school.
He said following that, counsel for Achimota Preparatory and JSS sought a court order on Wednesday, August 22, to re-open the school.
According to him, despite the order to re-open the school, certain persons, allegedly acting on the orders of the Achimota Secondary School, locked up the premises on August 24, 2007.
Mr Brentuo, however, said acting on the orders of their lawyers, the locks were broken and the premises re-entered.
He said owing to the potential of those developments disturbing public peace, a report was made to the Achimota School Police on Sunday, August 26, 2007 after an emergency Parent/Teacher Association (PTA) meeting.
He said the PTA also made a report to the Tesano District Police Headquarters owing to what he termed “the attitude of Achimota School police”.
Mr Brentuo said vacation classes were in session at the school.
When contacted, the headmistress of Achimota Secondary School, Mrs Beatrice Adom, said counsel for the school was on holidays in the United Kingdom and was due to return at the weekend.
She explained that she had just taken over the school and was given a court order by the school’s counsel to implement. She declined further comments.
A brief prepared by counsel for the school, a copy of which she presented to the Daily Graphic, said Achimota Preparatory School (APS) occupied the portion of the Achimota School land from the cross-roads at the Achimota Police Station stretching eastwards to the boundaries of the golf course practice grounds.
It said originally, APS was granted a lease of the said area by Achimota School for a period up to 1970. Since the expiration of the lease in 1970, no new lease had been granted to APS and no rent received from APS for its continued use of the land.
The brief said after a protracted discussion in 1985, Achimota School refused a request to grant permission to APS to build structures on the land for their JSS programme.
It said APS was given three years to wind up its activities and give up the possession of the buildings to Achimota School. APS, it said, pleaded for extension for up to five years to enable it phase out its pupils completely with a further arrangement for Achimota School to absorb the pupils of APS in its JSS.
It said it was discovered that APS was abusing the new arrangement by including many other pupils who were not pupils of APS.
It said following a legal action against APS, Achimota School obtained judgement to recover the possession of the land and the buildings occupied by APS.
It said after the judgement was served on APS, they applied to the court for an order to set aside the judgement, claiming that they had an equitable right to occupy the land perpetually because they had been in possession since 1957, and that the eviction would cause severe hardship to their 1,300 pupils, as well as their staff.
According to the brief, the parties began attempts to settle the matter out of court and after the negotiations, the parties agreed that APS would not admit any new pupils from 1996 and that APS would phase out its pupils from Kindergarten Two to Class Six under a plan submitted by APS.
It said the agreed terms and the plan for phasing out the pupils were filed in the High Court on December 10, 1996 and January 31, 1997 respectively, as an agreement between the parties.
“Therefore, by the agreement between the parties, APS should have phased out its pupils by the end of the academic year in 2001/2002 and duly handed over the land and the buildings to Achimota School,” it added.
It noted that between 2002 and 2005, APS sought to prevent Achimota School from going into execution by making various applications to set aside the judgement of the court but their applications were dismissed.
It said a writ of possession was obtained in May 2006 to enable Achimota School levy execution of the judgement.