MOASA CO vs. SAARA

JUDGMENT OF BENIN J A. The issue before the trial court was, which of the parties herein is the rightful lessee of a piece of land measuring 70 by 105 feet lying at New Abossey Okai, Accra. Both parties sought declaration of title to the said land so they assumed the burden of persuasion on the question of title. The plaintiff’s case as pleaded was that it acquired it from one Nii Boye Maclean and remained in undisturbed possession since the acquisition. It was only around February 1990 that the defendant and her agents began to disturb the plaintiff’s enjoyment of this land. The defendant averred that she obtained a grant of this land about 1965 from the late Nii Abossey Okai II, Odorkor Mantse. A deed of conveyance executed in her favour got lost. She obtained a building permit in 1971. In or about 1990 she approached the incumbent Odorkor Mantse, Nii Boye Maclean II to execute another document in her favour. She was made to pay some money. Subsequently, the stool secretary...