REPUBLIC vs. GA MANTSE’S CUSTOMARY ARBITRATION TRIBUNAL, EX PARTE BROWN

This appeal is from the ruling of Lutterodt J sitting at the High Court, Accra, on 15/2/90. The appellant, in an ex parte motion sought leave of the court to issue an order of prohibition to restrain the respondents from proceeding further with the proceedings before the 1st respondent-tribunal, in the case of Nii Charbukwei II, Chief of Anyah v Augustus Kpakpo Brown. At the hearing of the substantive motion the respondents’ counsel raised a preliminary objection contending that the High Court had no jurisdiction in as much as the Ga Mantse's Customary Arbitration Tribunal (hereinafter called ‘the tribunal’) was not set up by statute and therefore was not amenable to the supervisory jurisdiction of the High Court. In her ruling dated 15 February 1990, the judge held that the respondent-tribunal was not an adjudicating authority and therefore outside the scope of the writ of prohibition. She therefore dismissed the application. The tribunal is an adjudicating body set up by the...