COURT ORDERS RELOCATION OF NOISY CHURCH (PAGE 27, OCT 2, 2010)

THE Sunyani Magistrate’s Court has ordered the Majesty Worship Centre in Sunyani, located behind the South Ridge Hotel, to relocate by the end of this year following a suit brought against the church for excessive noise making in a residential area.
The court, presided over by Mr Joseph Mensah, also upheld the claim of the plaintiff, who is also the Managing Director of the South Ridge Hotel, Mr Charles Adu Gyamfi, that the Majesty Worship Centre and the Presiding Pastor, the defendants, were squatters and trespassers of the land they were occupying behind the hotel since the land belonged to the Ghana Airport Company.
The court said it could not give an immediate ejection notice but in the interim it asked the church to bring the noise level down until the time they had been ordered by the court to relocate.
The plaintiff had sought the court to order the church to desist from making excessive noise within the vicinity close to where the South Ridge Hotel was operating and also to eject the defendants from the land the church was occupying.
According to the writ filed by the plaintiff, he sought an order of the court because the defendants had already been ordered by the Town and Country Planning Department in Sunyani to relocate since November 20, 2009.
Granting the request, the presiding magistrate, Mr Mensah, said after the court went into the merit of the case it realised that the defendants were squatters and trespassers on the land.
He said the court also found out that the land on which the church was operating belonged to the Ghana Airport Company
The presiding magistrate said the court, therefore, ordered the presiding pastor of the Majesty Worship Centre to relocate from the land before December 31, 2010 or else the court would order for their ejection from the land.
After the judgement, the presiding pastor assured the court that the church would comply with the orders.
The case was subsequently adjourned to January 5, 2011 for the parties to come to court for the court to verify whether the orders had been complied with.