AKONA FAMILY OF KWAHINKROM PER EBUSUAPANYIN KWAMI ACKON (PLAINTIFF/RESPONDENT) vs. KWAME MMONYI AND KOFI EYEE-KORSAH (DEFENDANTS/APPELLANTS) NANA OKRAKOW II (CO-DEFENDANT/APPELLANT)

The plaintiff, representing the Akona family of Kwahinkrom, claimed ownership of the Aborobeano Village stool land within the Komenda traditional area. The land was historically occupied and controlled by the plaintiff's ancestors, who granted portions to others and collected tributes. During a litigation between Komenda and Shama paramountcies (1958-1974), the Komenda paramount stool commandeered lands, including the disputed land, to fund the litigation. After Komenda's victory, lands were returned to families except the Aborobeano land, which the Komenda stool retained and granted to others through the defendants. The plaintiff sued for damages for trespass, recovery of monies collected unlawfully, and perpetual injunction against interference with the land.

AYEBI J.A. This is an appeal from the judgment of the late Justice Tom Bentil sitting as an additional Circuit Court Judge at the Cape Coast Circuit Court dated 27/10/05. The judgment went in favour of the plaintiff on a claim for: (a) ¢5,000,000.00 damages for trespass to the plaintiff’s stool land known and called Aborobeano Village bounded by the stool lands of Dominase, Aboransa and Nsona of Komenda. (b) Recovery of ¢1.8m being monies collected by the defendants from persons to whom the defendants had made grants of the plaintiff’s land unlawfully. (c) Perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, their agents, assigns or servants from further future interference with the plaintiff’s said stool land. At the onset of the judgment, the learned judge lamented the difficulty in tracing some of the evidence in the suit which was launched in 1992. He reviewed the evidence as a whole and found the plaintiff’s case not frivolous. He therefore declared defendants and co...