encroachment

I had not heard this word much before coming to Ghana but here it seems to be a frequent occurrence,  land owned but not developed, someone non owner decides to build on it so just starts getting the block etc to do the build, no permission, no authority, just builds, one needs to put a wall around the property to stop such building, diocese owns a piece of land and someone is encroaching, dropped a load of building blocks to start building, if the legal owner does not lodge a complaint with the land office, after one year the encroaching becomes permanent, so today, bishop, 3 priests from the cathedral, all with cassocks on, warden, treasurer of diocese and a parishioner all go to land office for an appt. see probably the director, anyway, have discussion, showing of official papers and then all get in van and go to the land site, much discussion, walking about on the land, land had an dead crop of corn on it, many mounds of earth looking like a building site that had been left for years, there are cement pillars on the corners of the lot, with lot number on it, about 1 foot high, I ask is there one on all four corners, land official says yes but someone may have had new pillars put in...... to make questions about the true  ownership, really I answer, so now the person who put the blocks will be called in to prove or disprove the legal ownership. this happens frequently here, I guess the saying..possession is 9 / 10ths  of the law  really fits. I do not know how they determine the person who is encroaching, did not ask

THE PLOT OF LAND

FLOWERS IN THE FIELD