[1999]DLSC131 • May 19, 1999 • Supreme Court •
FRIMPONG AND ANOTHER vs NYARKO
The dispute arose from a chieftaincy petition challenging the installation of Akosua Nyarko as queenmother of Agona by the Omanhene, Nana Kwame Frimpong. The petitioners, descendants of Tiwaa and Yaa Awe lineage, claimed exclusive rights to the stools and contested the legitimacy of the installation. The defendants contended that the queenmother belonged to the Krabi royal lineage, part of the Asinie royal family. The petition was dismissed by the National House of Chiefs on grounds that the action was terminated by discontinuance against other defendants, and leave to appeal to the Supreme Court was initially refused but later granted.
read moreJUDGMENT OF EDWARD WIREDU JSC. The matter before us to which this opinion relates is supposed to be an appeal against an interlocutory order of the judicial committee of the National House of Chiefs. The main issue raised for consideration by the court is whether the petitioners in this case, who are complaining to be aggrieved by that decision, have taken all the necessary steps as required by law to entitle them to a hearing To answer the above question, it must first be appreciated that the right to appeal against a decision of any lower court is conferred by statute. In other words, the right to appeal is not inherent in any litigant. It is a right conferred by statute. In like manner, a court’s jurisdiction to hear and determine an appeal is provided by statute. In Nye v Nye [1967] GLR 76 at 82-83, CA Akufo-Addo CJ liud this to say: “It must be appreciated that there is no right of appeal in a litigant; nor is there an inherent power in any court to hear appeals.” In t...