TIMBER AND TRANSPORT SAWMILLING CO., LTD. vs. KATABAN TIMBERS CO., LTD.

JUDGMENT OF FRANCIOS J.A. This appeal is the culmination of a bitter struggle between two timber firms, Kataban Timbers Co., Ltd., and Timber and Transport Sawmilling Co., Ltd. both of Kumasi. The dispute was over timber felling rights in the Desiri Concession of Messrs Gliksten (West Africa) Ltd. I shall hereafter refer to the parties simply as the respondents and appellants respectively. The respondents were the first to set foot in the Desiri Concession having been invited by the chiefs and elders of Akwaboa, the allodial owners of the land, to construct feeder roads in the area to facilitate the transportation of their food crops to buying centres to prevent wastage. The respondents, in lieu of payment, were to fell and haul timber along the line of road construction to compensate for the cost of construction. It appears Messrs Gliksten who held the concession had for long neglected the area to the detriment of the farming communities whose farming endeavours wer...