Management and business operators at La Pleasure Beach Resort say they will not vacate the facility despite a 24-hour ultimatum they say was issued by the National Security Council Secretariat ahead of a planned demolition, insisting that the ownership dispute over the beachfront land is already before the courts and must be resolved before any action is taken.
The directive, according to management, followed a petition by Labadi Beach Hotel over the ownership of the beachfront land. La Pleasure Beach Resort disputes claims that the land belongs to the government, maintaining that it is owned by Ga lands.
Speaking to Citi News, the Resort’s Communications Director, Rahman Ashitey, appealed to President John Dramani Mahama to intervene and halt the planned demolition. He alleged that the Secretariat’s Director of Special Operations, Richard Jakpa, issued the directive for occupants to vacate the premises.
“Since the case is in court, we do not believe they can come and conduct a demolition because doing that will violate the law. We believe Mr. Jakpa is trying to tarnish the image of the president,” he said.
A Decades-Long Dispute
The controversy over La Pleasure Beach has deep historical roots. The dispute traces back to a 2002 Memorandum of Understanding between the La Traditional Council, the allodial owners of the land, and the Ghana Tourism Development Company (GTDC) for the development and management of La Pleasure Beach. Under the arrangement, 20 percent of revenue was to be paid to the traditional council as landowners, while 30 percent was to go to a youth development fund.
However, the management structure collapsed over the years. From October 2014 to July 2022, a three-member committee effectively dissolved as Stanley Nunoo, appointed as the youth representative, assumed sole control of beach operations. During this period, neither the traditional council received its stipulated 20 percent nor did funds flow into the youth development account, despite the beach generating substantial monthly revenues. Revenue records from 2024 show total monthly revenues exceeding five million cedis.
On July 21, 2022, the Court of Appeal restructured the arrangement, dissolving the three-member committee and ordering the formation of a nine-member management structure with three representatives each from the La Traditional Council, the youth development fund, and GTDC, with the chairmanship to rotate annually among the three groups. Nunoo was given six months, until January 2023, to facilitate a handover — a handover that never materialised. According to documents filed with Cantonments Police Station, Nunoo allegedly falsified signatures of two directors of the La Youth Association to appoint himself as a director, and subsequently registered La Pleasure Beach as personal property.
The La Traditional Council itself was suspended in September 2024 over allegations of corruption, extortion, and illegal land dealings, pending the installation of a new La Mantse. The Regional House of Chiefs ordered a comprehensive audit of all financial transactions, particularly those related to the La Beach (Labome & La Pleasure Beach) managed by the Ghana Tourist Board.
Polo Beach Club Lawsuit and Jakpa Allegations
The current tension forms part of a broader legal battle over the Labadi beachfront involving Polo Beach Club, operated by Spartan-Ives Limited, which has been locked in a dispute with Labadi Beach Hotel over the same stretch of land.
On September 16, 2026, Spartan-Ives Limited filed a lawsuit against Hotel Investments (Ghana) Limited, operators of Labadi Beach Hotel, naming Richard Jakpa as a defendant. The suit accuses Jakpa of “hiding behind the Secretariat” to carry out the hotel’s “extra judicial and unlawful bidding” to demolish the Polo Beach Club. The filing came just moments after Labadi Beach Hotel discontinued its own suit laying claim to the beachfront land, a move the hotel described as a “commercial one”.
According to court documents, Jakpa allegedly informed officials of Polo Beach Club, including its lawyer, that Labadi Beach Hotel wanted the Club demolished and that the decision was “non-negotiable and irreversible”. Despite being informed that the land dispute was already before a court, Jakpa reportedly rejected the suggestion that the parties should allow the court to determine the issue and indicated that the demolition would proceed based on his own research.
Spartan-Ives Limited secured a 20-year lease of the disputed beachfront land from the La Stool in June 2022 at a total cost of GH¢1.5 million, with the consent of the La Pleasure Beach Management Committee. In 2023, UT Properties Limited valued the Polo Beach Club building alone at a market value of GH¢41.3 million.
The Club is seeking a declaration that it lawfully acquired the disputed land, perpetual injunctions to prevent the defendants from demolishing the Polo Beach Club, and general damages and costs including legal fees.
Appeal to the President
Rahman Ashitey’s appeal to President Mahama echoes concerns raised by Polo Beach Club, which has argued that neither the government nor the National Security apparatus has sanctioned any demolition effort, and that Jakpa is “on a frolic of his own” in pursuing one.
The National Security Council Secretariat is yet to publicly respond to the allegations. As the 24-hour ultimatum passes, the standoff at La Pleasure Beach underscores the increasingly fraught intersection of land disputes, security agencies, and commercial interests along Ghana’s most contested coastline.
