The Asantehene Stool Lands Secretariat and the Lands Commission in Kumasi are facing serious allegations of land fraud, following claims made by private legal practitioner Edwin Poku. Poku, representing himself in a civil suit at the Kumasi High Court, has accused the two bodies of colluding to illegally seize lands belonging to Ghanaians and subsequently reallocating them to foreign interests.
The accusations came to light during cross-examination in a case where Poku is being sued by four of his first cousins – Yvonne Appiah Poku, Ida Gisela Osei, Eleanor Opoku, and Hanetta Hayford – over the ownership of a prime land property in Adum, Kumasi, which he purchased from his late father’s estate executors.
According to Poku, officials from the Asantehene’s secretariat and the Lands Commission are engaged in “dishonest dealings,” including the allocation of lands, such as the contested Adum property, to individuals with “questionable claims.” He asserts that this alleged scheme has resulted in numerous Ghanaians losing their rightful lands, which are then secretly assigned to foreigners. He vehemently stated that these actions by the operatives of both bodies are “illegal and must stop.”
Poku further told the court that the Lands Commission intentionally altered documents related to the disputed land in an attempt to strip him of legal ownership. He pointed out that the Title Deeds covering the property were “riddled with cancellations and suspicious amendments,” accusing the Kumasi Lands Commission of a “fraudulent attempt to overreach him” by tampering with and backdating documents tendered in court by a witness.
He specifically challenged the testimony of Augustine Obeng Gyasi, a senior officer at the Lands Commission, who maintained a distinction between state-acquired lands and vested lands. Obeng Gyasi had asserted that approximately 400 acres were released by the government to the Golden Stool for specific developments and acknowledged that Kumasi town lands (Part I Lands) are held in trust by the government on behalf of the Golden Stool.
However, Edwin Poku countered this, claiming that historical leases from 1920 to 1974 made no reference to the Golden Stool as a trustee. He alleged that recent documents, including Exhibit B8, which states the Lands Commission holds Kumasi land in trust for the Golden Stool, are “forgeries produced using modern technology and backdated.” “You can’t have a computer printout from 1974. That technology didn’t even exist in Ghana at that time,” Poku argued in court.
This ongoing civil suit shines a spotlight on the complexities and contentiousness of land administration in Ghana, particularly concerning the roles of traditional authorities and state land agencies. The case has been adjourned to November 2025.
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