Founder and General Overseer of Prayer Palace, Prophet Emmanuel Adjei, has accused a Chinese developer of defying a police directive and continuing construction on land the church says it holds tenancy rights to, warning that his 2,000-member congregation is ready to protect the property if authorities fail to act.
Speaking to the media, Prophet Adjei said the church acquired the land in 2019 from one Samuel Kofidyane. A year later, the Numo Kofi Annun family of Teshie presented Supreme Court judgment documents proving they were the rightful owners.
Our investigation realized that they were the rightful owners of this land, so we have to attorn tenancy to them, so we attorned tenancy to them, and up until then we’ve occupied this land without any problem,” he said.
The pastor said trouble started about two weeks ago when the church began developing an unused portion of the land to build a children’s department and a restaurant.
As soon as we started the building, land guards invaded the police, saying that we are not the bonafide owners of the land. We have no right to develop any other land,” he said.
Prayer Palace contacted the Numo Kofi Annun family, which confirmed it had not sent anyone to stop the work and advised the church to report the matter to police.
We gave them the documents at that same period. We saw that the Chinese man is also developing at another part of our land, so they invited the Chinese guy also, but he was represented,” Prophet Adjei said.
Police asked both parties to submit documents and ordered a one-week halt to all construction for investigation.
According to the pastor, the Chinese developer returned to the land the same day with land guards and resumed work on the disputed portion.
We had to go back to the police. We gave the police a call saying we have followed the instructions and the orders you gave us, but this Chinese guy is still developing the land. What is happening?” he said.
Prophet Adjei said he has refrained from mobilizing his congregation because he believes in due process, but frustration is growing.
I’m a pastor. I have over 2,000 people following me. I don’t own a land. I don’t make decisions. Decisions are made based on what my people want me to do,” he said. “Now that churches are dictated, the church is worried. They’ve contributed. They’ve bought a land. They want to develop the land.
He alleged the developer is “backed by so-called, we are not too sure, backed by some powers that be that is giving him the strength and the power to build, even after the police had told him not to build.”
The Prayer Palace leader said he chose to speak to the media first instead of allowing the congregation to take the law into their hands.
“It will be very sad to take any action, allow the church to also go invade the police when we have not spoken to the public, and also we not going to the new process. Basically that’s the reason we call the media to hear our side of the story,” he said.
He urged the police and relevant authorities to enforce the stop-work order and ensure justice, stressing that “everybody is ready to protect their land.”
Police are yet to comment on the latest developments. The case remains under investigation.
