Japekrom is the Capital of the Jaman South Municipal Assembly, NOT Drobo- Press Release

JAPEKROM TRADITIONAL COUNCIL, International Press Centre, Accra

Monday 12th March, 2018.

By Okatakyie Amoa Aturu Nkonkonkyia II, President of the Japekrom Traditional Council (Contact: infojtcpresident@gmail.com)

PRESS RELEASE

TO ALL MEDIA HOUSES

ANNOUNCING THE NAME CHANGE OF THE JAMAN SOUTH DISTRICT CAPITAL FROM DROBO TO JAPEKROM.

AND

CORRECTION OF THE WRONGFUL REPRESENTATION OF JAPEKROM AS DROBO

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media, I am Okatakyie Amoa Aturu Nkonkonkyia II, the Omanhene (Paramount Chief) of Mpuasu-Japekrom Traditional Area, and I speak in my capacity as the President of the Japekrom Traditional Council. I present to you this press release on the true position of the Japekrom Township and also clear a seeming or gradual misrepresentation of Japekrom as Drobo.

2. The clarification has become necessary as the Japekrom Traditional Council has noted with keen interest a gradual misrepresentation of the Japekrom Township as Drobo. I thus would like to draw the attention of Government of Ghana, Statutory bodies, institutions and organizations, entities, businesses and the general public to the geographical positions of Japekrom and Drobo.
3. The truthful fact is that Japekrom and Drobo are two different towns located at different geographical locations within the Brong-Ahafo Region of the Republic of Ghana.
4. Japekrom is a town located in the Jaman South District of the Brong Ahafo Region of the Republic of Ghana and principally covers the following geographical coordinates: (7°36′30″N, 2°48′20″W), (7°37′02″N, 2°46′36″W), (7°35′19″N, 2°45′56″W), (7°35′0″N, 2°47′0″W), (7°34′45″N, 2°47′25″W).

5. The Township of Japekrom is located on Mpuasu-Japekrom Stool lands and it is the traditional capital of the Mpuasu-Japekrom Traditional Area of the Jaman South District. The Japekrom Traditional Council and the Japekromhene are the legitimate and undisputed owners of the vast lands in Gyaman including the townships of Japekrom and New Drobo (New Drobo covers just about 20 plots of lands on the Japekrom stool land) , and sharing boundaries with the Berekum Stool Lands in the South, Dormaa Stool Lands in the South-West, Awasu Stool Lands in the East and North-East, Adamsu in the North and the Republique De La Cote D’Ivoire in the North-West (Please, refer to Court of Appeal and Supreme Court Judgments).

6. Japekrom was founded by my forefathers who are Akwamus who settled with the Gyamanhene some 300-400 years ago around the Mpuasu Mountains. The town’s original name was Pruano (meaning… On the Bank of River Pru). This was indicated or labeled as Pulliano in Colonial Gold Coast Maps of Ghana. The current name, Japekrom which has often been spelt as Gyapekrom or Gyapekurom was occasioned by one of the Town’s Chiefs called Nana Kwasi Amoa a.k.a Nana Gyape. Town folks, settlers and foreigners who travelled to the town referred to the town by the Chief’s nickname ‘Gyape’ and thus Gyape’s Town (Gyapekrom) and now Japekrom.

7. Drobo is a town in the Jaman North District of the Brong-Ahafo Region and is located at approximately 32 kilometers north of Japekrom along the Japekrom-Sampa Road. The town Drobo is principally located at the geographical coordinate (7°848428′0″N, 2°735606′0″W). The said Drobo in the Jaman North is the traditional seat of the Paramount Chief of Drobo and falls under the traditional authority of the Drobo Traditional Council.  Historical facts and the current Political Map of Ghana, published by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, attached herewith, clearly confirm Drobo’s location in Brong-Ahafo Region.

8. For some time now there seem to be some attempts to erroneously and deliberately misrepresent Japekrom as Drobo. Some proofs of this misrepresentation are that the Jaman South District Assembly which used the following address Jaman South District Assembly P. O. Box 5 Japekrom is now using Jaman South District Assembly P. O. Box 5 Drobo. St. Mary’s Hospital whose address was St. Mary’s Hospital, P. O. Box 14 Japekrom is now using St. Mary’s Hospital, P. O. Box 14 Drobo. Gradually, it has been noticed that some district departmental offices whose addresses hitherto bore the label Japekrom are being re-branded as Drobo in spite of the fact that there has not been any change in their locations at Japekrom.

9. It is worth noting that it was the Japekromhene that granted and allocated lands at Japekrom for the construction of the principal offices of the then Jaman District Assembly and also the St. Mary’s Hospital, hence the previous labeling or addressing of those facilities as located at Japekrom.

10. During the drafting of the Legislative Instrument 1777 and (now LI 2269) establishing the Jaman South District/Municipal Assembly, Japekrom was misrepresented as Drobo and the framers of the draft intentionally omitted Japekrom as an Electoral Area name in the Jaman South District. Surprisingly, while all the small towns and villages on Japekrom Stool lands appeared in the LIs 1777 and 2269, the prominent township of Japekrom that had a post office and thus gave the small townships and villages their addresses was conspicuously missing from the Electoral Area names of the Jaman South District. In the LIs 1777 and 2269, the electoral area names erroneously referred to as Drobo is actually just an extension of the Japekrom Township. We strongly believe that institutions such as the Electoral Commission of Ghana and Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development may have been misled with dishonest information, in what can be best described as a gradual, calculated and grand scheme in line with an agenda by some people to replace Japekrom with Drobo.

11. As a result of the omission of the name Japekrom from the LIs 1777 and 2269, and the deliberate misrepresentation of Japekrom as Drobo by some unknown agents, the said Legislative Instruments erroneously named Drobo as the District Capital or the place of location of principal offices of the Jaman South District. This is an error and it is stated here that the Japekrom Traditional Council has initiated a process to amend the error.

12. At this point it is worth noting that the only possible reason leading to the seeming misrepresentation of Japekrom as Drobo was occasioned by a litigation initiated by Nana Bosea Gyinantwi IV, Paramount Chief of the said Drobo, a town which is located at the Jaman North District and situated 32 kilometers north of Japekrom on the Japekrom-Sampa Road. It is important to briefly throw some light on the said litigation since it contains important facts that clearly define the geographical locations of Japekrom and Drobo.

13. The true facts are that the said Drobo Chief, Nana Bosea Gyinantwi IV, arbitrarily allocated portions of Japekrom Stool lands to prospective developers without the consent of the Japekromhene or the Japekrom Traditional Council. He demarcated such plots at Japekrom on a town plan scheme he initially named “New Drobo”, subsequently dropping the prefix “New” and calling the scheme “Drobo Planning Scheme” at Japekrom.

14. He later sought to legitimize his unlawful demarcations by joining a suit initiated by the Assemblies of God church in the year 1996, which had been allocated part of the Japekrom town lands by the Drobo Traditional Council under Drobohene’s leadership. The Drobo Traditional Council as part of the suit sought to claim all the stool lands forming the Mpuasu-Japekrom Traditional Area plus others.

15. It is worth noting that the case span from the High Court (SUIT NO. LS. 28/96) through to the Court of Appeal (Civil Appeal Case No.:H1/12/2011) and ended at the Supreme Court of Ghana (Civil Appeal No. J4/49/2015). His claim was refused by all these courts with a final judgment from the Supreme Court of Ghana on the 19^th of November, 2015 in favour of the Japekrom Stool.

16. The said litigation has come to a close with a final determination by the Supreme Court of Ghana in its judgment of 19^th November, 2015 (Civil Appeal No. J4/49/2015). The Supreme Court of Ghana re-affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeal that declared the Japekromhene holder of allodia title to the said lands labeled New Drobo including the illegal “Drobo Planning Scheme”.

17. Thus the Courts of Ghana have rejected the claim of the Drobohene and accordingly, the Drobo Traditional Council and the Japekrom Traditional Council have concluded the matter as to the ownership of Japekrom and New Drobo for good.

18. It is worth noting that the Drobo Traditional Council has been served with the Entry of Judgment and the Drobo Traditional Council has accordingly paid the cost awarded against them to the Japekrom Stool.

19. Against this background, the true geographical positions of Japekrom and Drobo have been confirmed by the Courts of this Country-Ghana. The Mpuasu-Japekrom Stool does not share any common boundary with the Drobo Stool at the Japekrom area or anywhere in the Jaman South area of the Brong-Ahafo Region.

20. Similarly, there is no misunderstanding between the Drobo Traditional Council and the Japekrom Traditional Council as to the owner of the Japekrom Township (including New Drobo of about 20 plots of land). The truthful and bare fact is that the geographical area being erroneously referred to as Drobo is just an extension of the Japekrom Township.

21. We thus by this press conference and release state unequivocally that the geographical location of the Capital of the Jaman South District/Municipal Assembly is JAPEKROM. Japekrom is located in the Jaman South District of the Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana and Drobo is located in the Jaman North District of the same B/A region.

22. We therefore urge the Government of Ghana, Ministry of Local Government & Rural Development, Electoral Commission of Ghana, Survey Department, Brong-Ahafo Regional Coordinating Council, Town and Country Planning Department, Ministry of Information, Jaman South District Assembly, agencies, Google Ghana, GPRTU, public institutions and organizations (including international), individuals and government officials to take notice of these facts and be guided accordingly. We further stress that all the above mentioned institutions and the citizenry exercise caution in dealing with the Drobo Traditional Council on matters regarding Mpuasu-Japekrom Stool Lands.

23. The said litigation indicated above thwarted the efforts of the Japekrom Traditional Council in our attempt to correct some of the deliberate misrepresentation of Japekrom as Drobo that occurred in some time past.

24. These notwithstanding, the Japekrom Traditional Council has taken serous notice of the misrepresentation of Japekrom and has accordingly taken steps to correct the seeming misrepresentation.

25. Accordingly, it is hereby announced for the information of the general public that, as the legitimate owners of the Townships forming the District Capital of the Jaman South District, and in accordance with the Statutory Declarations Act, 1971, ACT 389, we have since March, 2017 declared the district capital area as The said Statutory Declaration has been duly published through a Gazette Notice in the Ghana Gazette No. 104 of Friday, 13^th October, 2017. The District Capital or the location of the principal offices of the Jaman South District is rather Japekrom and not as misrepresented in the LIs 1777 and 2269. It is stated here that the process of correcting the error of misrepresentation of Japekrom as Drobo in the LI 1777 (or 2269) has been initiated by the Council.

26. Subsequent to these, the Japekrom Traditional Council wishes to state that the geographical area described earlier including places called New Drobo and later Drobo shall henceforth be known as JAPEKROM.

27. The Council shall not tolerate the branding of Japekrom or Mpuasu-Japekrom Stool lands and any of the settlements on its stool lands in any manner suggestive of belonging to another traditional entity other than Japekrom. Legal remedy and any other actions acceptable by traditional custom shall be employed as and when necessary.

28. It is further stated that all entities in the stated geographical area being corporate bodies, public institutions, churches, businesses, prospective developers and individuals are to particularly take notice that they have come to settle in Japekrom and are wholly part of the Japekrom City and that they are most welcome. It is our hope that all the people in Japekrom and its environs shall take notice of this factual information and live in peace with one another.

29. The Japekrom Traditional Council is the only legitimate traditional authority of all Mpuasu-Japekrom Stool lands in Mpuasu-Japekrom Traditional Area and seeks to serve and offer its services to anyone that lives on any part of the Traditional Area. Its offices are open to all at all times. The Council does not have any issue or problem with any law abiding settler on its stool lands.

30. The Japekrom area is now declared land-litigation-free and the general public, Investors and prospective developers are hereby welcome to invest at Japekrom and other areas of the Jaman South Municipality.

31. It is further announced that prospective developers are to note that there is only one Office at Japekrom in the Mpuasu-Japekrom Traditional Area of Jaman South District that deals with the allocations of plots of land known as the Japekrom Customary Lands Secretariat with the following contact information: telephone numbers +233 (0) 352-290014 or japekromcls@gmail.com. The Office is recognized by government and other state institutions such as the Lands Commission and facilitates the issuance of proper documentations to prospective developers or developed properties. Dealing directly with the Office avoids incidences of duping and double sale of plots.

32. Please, note that full copies of the stated judgments of the High Court (SUIT NO. LS. 28/96), Court of Appeal (Civil Appeal Case No.:H1/12/2011) and the Supreme Court of Ghana (Civil Appeal No. J4/49/2015) and all the documents referred to in this press release can be downloaded from the following links japekrom.com/, The Supreme Court judgement, Change of Name of New Drobo Gazette. Should anyone have any further enquiries or information, do contact the Council via any of the address formats indicated on this letter head.

33. We urge the media or any other interested parties to challenge any person, entity, or groups of persons who seek to contradict our facts as presented here to prove same with hard evidence as we have demonstrated in this release.

34. We want to use this opportunity to thank His Excellency the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the Government of Ghana for elevating our District, Jaman South to the status of Municipal.

35. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press and the General Public, Thank you.

Sincerely,

(SIGNED)

Okatakyie Amoa Aturu Nkonkonkyia II

President, Japekrom Traditional Council.

Cc: Ministry of Information, Accra-Ghana

Ministry of Communication, Accra-Ghana