The 3-storey 14 flats apartment. INSETl: Adisu locking the gates of the apartment and some prison officers arguing with the landlord
Fourteen Senior Officers of the Ghana Prisons Service attached to the Sekondi Prisons were yesterday afternoon ejected from their residence at Fijai, near Sekondi, by a landlord for being in six months’ rent arrears, amounting to GH¢129,600.
The action, which was carried out in the full glare of some relatives of the prison officers who were around, generated some kind of tension as some of the tenants tried to prevent the landlord from carrying out his intended action.
The landlord, John Kobina Adisu, who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kokhard Travel & Tours in Takoradi, stormed the apartment at about 1:45pm, while some of the relatives of the senior prison officers were around.
Since he had already served notice to the Regional Prison Commander, James Kaku, about his intended action, the landlord moved from door to door to inform the occupants to vacate the rooms because he was going to lock up the main gate.
While some of the occupants adhered to the order and came out, others decided to lock their doors and remain inside.
The landlord then used padlocks and chains to lock the main gate of the 14-flat apartment.
Hell broke loose at the forecourt of the three-storey building when some of the officers in uniform, who were informed of the landlord’s action by their relatives, confronted him and ordered him to unlock the gate.
In the process, a scene was created and it took the intervention of journalists who were at the scene to calm them down.
Explaining what necessitated his action in an interview with DAILY GUIDE, the visibly annoyed landlord, disclosed that he had rented the 14-flat apartment to the Ghana Prison Service.
He indicated that he signed three agreements with the Ghana Prison Service that there should be the initial two years rent advance payment amounting to GH¢129,600 to be paid on February 1, 2013.
According to the landlord, the Ghana Prison Service agreed to pay the said rent in the manner aforesaid.
Mr. Adisu indicated that it was pathetic to note that six months after the agreement, the prison service had allegedly refused to honour their side of the agreement.
“Per the agreement, the payment of the said amount of GH¢129,600 for the two years rent was scheduled for the 1st of February, 2013 but the Prison Service has grossly defaulted in honouring their commitment,” he added.
He indicated that he sent several notices to the Prison Service headquarters in Accra and the regional office in Sekondi to pay the amount but to no avail, adding “the prison service had not even paid one cedi as rent to me but they have occupied the place for six months”.
“So I told the prison service that if payment was not made on or before the 1st of July, 2013, I shall take it as a gross breach of the agreement and will, thus, be left with no other choice but to serve them with ejection notice to vacate the premises”, he stressed.
After hearing the action by the landlord, the Regional Prison Commander called Mr. Adisu on phone and asked him to go to his office for a closed-door meeting.
Briefing the press later after the protracted meeting, the landlord indicated that the Prison authorities had agreed to settle the rent arrears and so he had decided to rescind his earlier decision to evict them.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi