Kumasi, May 28, GNA - The Adehyeman Gardens, a popular tourist site at the Kejetia playgrounds in Kumasi, which was closed down by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) about four years ago, is to be re-opened to the public soon.

This followed an amicable out of court settlement of a suit filed at a Kumasi Fast Track High Court against the KMA by the Adehyeman Foundation, operators of the site.

The court presided over by Mr Justice Yaw Appau on May 17 this year, consented to the terms of the agreement in the settlement and therefore struck out the case from the court's records. Mr Peter Osei Assibey, Managing Director of the Adehyeman Foundation and the chief executive of KMA agreed upon the terms of the settlement, after a four-year legal battle.

According to the terms, the KMA will immediately open up the premises to the operators and clear all squatters from the site. The KMA has also agreed to submit a valuation of the Kejetia playground and present it to the Adehyeman Foundation to determine the number of shares to be allocated to the Assembly in the new joint venture to be formed by the two parties.

Adehyeman Foundation will also submit an audited account of its operations from 1993 to 2002 when the KMA unilaterally closed down the premises and an inventory of the movable and immovable assets of the venture carried out. The KMA and the Adehyeman Foundation entered into a joint venture agreement in April 1991 to develop the Kejetia playground into a tourist complex.

The KMA had 40 per cent share, which were mainly from the land and other structures on it. However, in 2002 the KMA forcibly closed the place down and followed it up in 2004 with a letter to unilaterally abrogate the contract resulting in a legal battle between the Assembly and the operators. 28 May 06