Government sued for GH¢120 million over demolition for National Cathedral construction
One of the companies whose flats and luxury homes were torn down so that the National Cathedral could be built has sued the state, asking for over US$ 6 million in judgment debt, not including interest.
Waterstone Realty Limited has decided to sue for justice because the state hasn’t done what it was supposed to do, which was to demolish its properties. This includes giving the company another piece of prime state land.
Ironically, some of the flat buildings were occupied by judges from the higher courts, including the Court of Appeal.
In a lawsuit seen by Ghanaeduaction.org from vlogger Kevin Taylor, Waterstone Realty Limited is asking for US$4,720,000, which is the market value of their 2-story multipurpose building complex that was torn down, as well as US$995,508, which is the cost of the property on the building, rent lost, an interest that can be calculated, and general damages, among other things.
Even though this suit is likely to cause trouble, the government of Ghana is already in trouble over how to pay for the national cathedral and where judges should live.
The government spends US$5,000 every month to house 21 judges living in the area in semi-luxury and full-luxury three- and four-bedroom flats in Accra. This is because the National Cathedral project required the demolition of their bungalow homes.
According to documents that MyNewsGh.com got a hold of, the government has been spending $5,000 on each of the 21 judges whose bungalows were destroyed and who had to move temporarily until a new building could be built. This has been going on since July 2018. The government got them a place to live.
You may remember that in 2018, the government tore down ten six-bedroom bungalows, six three-bedroom bungalows, and other bungalows that belonged to the Judicial Service of Ghana. Some of these bungalows were less than a year old.
After the building was torn down, the government said it was only putting the judges up “temporarily” and would build them a new home in 18 months.
But as of now, reports show that about US$4.3 million has been spent to “temporarily” house the 21 judges in luxury and mini-luxury flats in the Cantonments, Osu, and Ridge areas at a cost of US$5,000 per month.
Read the Writ of Summons below;
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