BOTCHWEY vs. STATE INSURANCE CORPORATION

JUDGMENT OF LAMPTEY JA. On 2 October 1987 one Ebenezer Tetteh Amartei, in his capacity as head of Nii Armah Sogblah family of Osu, on behalf of the said family and the people of Haatso (hereinafter referred to as the plaintiff) sued the State Insurance Corporation (hereinafter referred to as the defendant) and sought the reliefs indorsed on tile writ of summons. In due course, the Attorney-General was by an order of the court joined as the second defendant. Briefly put, the claim of the plaintiff was that the President had no lawful power to compulsorily acquire land for the benefit, use and purposes of the defendant. The plaintiff further claimed that the entry of the defendant on the land in dispute constituted actionable trespass. The defence put forward by the defendant and the Attorney-General was that the President had lawful authority to acquire the land in dispute, and to vest it in the defendant. At the end of the trial on the merits, judgment was entered for the plainti...