[1981]DLCA2284 • January 30, 1981 • Court of Appeal
OKWAN AND OTHERS vs. AMANKWA II
The parties are members of the Kona family of Barko, Central Region. The plaintiff, as odikro (chief) of Barko village and the Kona family, claimed authority over family stool lands from which rents and dues from abusa tenant farmers were collected and distributed according to family custom. The defendants, including the head of the family, disputed the plaintiff's claim to manage the lands and collect rents, asserting that the first defendant as family head was the custodian. The dispute arose when the defendants took control of rent collection, excluding the plaintiff, who sought an accounting and injunction to restrain the defendants from collecting rents without accounting to him.
read moreThe parties to this appeal will for purposes of convenience be referred to in this judgement as the plaintiff, the first, second and third defendants respectively in the manner in which they have been described on the writ of summons or simply as defendants where the context so requires. The appeal is from a ruling of Okunnor J. sitting at the High Court, Cape Coast dated 1 April 1980 in which he dismissed an objection taken against the plaintiff’s capacity to maintain an action for accounts and rents in respect of his family stool lands. The facts of this case which are devoid of any complexity may be briefly stated as follows. The parties to this suit are all members of the same family, namely the Kona family of Barko near Breman-Asikuma in the Central Region. The plaintiff is the odikro of Barko village. On the writ of summons issued on or about 18 November 1979, he is described as “the chief of Barko and of the Kona family of Barko”. The first defendant is the head of the sa...