A Ghanaian businessman, Habib Musah Adams, has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), accusing officers of repeatedly arresting his workers while allegedly allowing individuals involved in an unauthorized demolition on his property to go free. Adams, a Spintex-Manet businessman, made the allegations in a petition dated September 14, addressed to the IGP. The petition was also copied to the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards Bureau (PIPS), the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), and the Registrar of the High Court's Land Division.
According to Adams, he has held a 1.49-acre parcel of land at Teshie-Manet, opposite the T.B. Joshua Church, since 2012. He alleges that after he began fencing the property earlier this year, police officers repeatedly intervened in the dispute, resulting in the arrests of his workers on five occasions over a two-month period. The dispute intensified on July 11, when the rear wall of a commercial building belonging to Artin and Haykouhe Kassardjian was demolished. Adams claims the wall was not on his property and that he neither carried out nor reported the demolition.
Adams alleges that on September 9, an unauthorized demolition took place on his property while he, his contractor, and project manager were attending court over an unrelated remand hearing involving 11 of his workers. He claims that a police officer who arrived while the demolition was underway arrested and handcuffed the machine operator. Members of a Regional Anti-Land Guard team arrived minutes later, released the operator and his equipment, and instead detained the workers who had reported the alleged demolition.
The businessman argues that the conduct of the officers requires an independent investigation, particularly because the Ghana Police Service is itself a defendant in the underlying land case. The civil action, Habib Musah Adams v. Dr. Benjamin Accam & 5 Others, Suit No. LD/0580/2026, was filed at the High Court's Land Division on July 27. Adams says the Police Service had been served with the writ and that the court subsequently granted an interim injunction on July 30 restraining all parties from entering or dealing with the disputed land.
Adams is asking the IGP to direct PIPS to conduct an independent investigation into the conduct of all officers involved. He also wants investigators to establish who authorized the various police interventions, identify an individual referred to in the petition as "Mboma," and examine the circumstances surrounding the prosecution and remand of his workers. Eleven tradesmen were remanded on September 3 and were later released after another court declined to remand them again a week later, according to the petition.
The petition does not establish that any police officer or the named defendants committed wrongdoing, and the allegations have not been independently verified. The Ghana Police Service and the other parties named in the civil proceedings had not publicly responded to the allegations at the time the petition was filed. The ownership and use of the disputed property remain the subject of proceedings before the High Court. The next hearing in the related criminal proceedings is scheduled for October 21, 2026.
The case has sparked concerns about the role of the police in land disputes and the need for an independent investigation into the allegations. The outcome of the petition and the ongoing court proceedings will be closely watched by stakeholders.
Key points
- Habib Musah Adams petitioned the IGP over alleged police involvement in an unauthorized demolition on his property.
- The dispute involves a 1.49-acre parcel of land at Teshie-Manet, which Adams has held since 2012.
- The IGP has been asked to direct an independent investigation into the conduct of police officers involved in the dispute.
