Mahama's Intervention To Save AMA's Properties May Be Too Late - Lawyer

It appears that the Executive intervention to stop the auctioning of four bungalows of the AMA to defray a debt owed City and Country Waste may just be a little too late. Private legal practitioner Samson Lardy Ayenini says in principle the sale process appears to have been completed once the gavel of the auctioneer was struck and that any intervention could be null and void. He was, however, quick to add that there could be conditions under which the sale of the residences could be revoked but it is not clear yet if those conditions pertained to the auction of the AMA properties. The gavel of an auctioneer struck early Thursday afternoon to hand over four residences of the AMA to persons who made the highest offers for them at a public auction. The auction was to defray a judgement debt owed City and Country Waste by AMA arising out of a court case dating back to 2008. The official residence of the Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Mr. Alfred Oko Vanderpuije was auctioned for 850,000 Ghana cedis Thursday. Three other properties belonging to the AMA and located at Ridge in Accra were also auctioned for a total of 2,255,000 Ghana cedis. But the amount is nowhere close to the original debt of $6,575,928.52 owed City and Country Waste and there are indications other AMA properties may soon be auctioned to recover the remaining debt. But soon after the four residences were auctioned, the president who was commissioning the Bui Hydroelectric power project in the Bono Ahafo region directed that the debts owed City and Country Waste be paid in order to stop the auction process. Speaking to Joy News lawyer Samson Ayenini said the president's intervention may well be of little significance. He explained the bids made by the interested buyers at the auction constitute offers and the auctioneer announced his acceptance of the offers. He added that traditionally and in principle, the sale is complete with the fall of the auctioneer�s hammer. He added that by law the owner can only reverse the process and take back his property before the completion of the sale. Samson Lardi Ayenini hinted the AMA and the president may have a glimmer of hope if the condition to the auction stated that the sale was only complete upon payment and collection of documents to the property. He doubted however if there could be such a condition because traditionally the fall of the hammer seals an auction sale. Joy News' Joseph Gakpo who has been following the beat on the AMA auction reported the auctioneer initially as saying that he was tasked by a court to auction the properties and once he has done that his job is done. He added that the documents of the properties will be given to the new owners once they make payments. Auctioneer Jacobus Vanderpuije of Vans Mart Auctioneers who conducted the auction, later told Gakpo that even though some of the new owners have come with their monies, he told them to hold on because of the directive of the president. It is yet to be seen if the property will be handed to the new owners or if the intervention of the president will achieve its purse - save the AMA Chief Executive's residence and the other bungalows.