[2016]DLSC2877 • February 17, 2016 • Supreme Court •
KOFI SARPONG vs. FRANKLIN ADUBOBI JANTUAH
The dispute concerns ownership of property numbered O.T.B. 511, Block XXVI, Adum, Kumasi. The plaintiff claimed ownership as a sublessee whose sublease had expired, asserting ownership by possession, without title deeds or evidence of acquisition by purchase or inheritance. The defendant claimed to be the true owner, holding title deeds under the name Kwame Adu Bobi, which he explained was his birth name, though he commonly used the name Franklin Adubobi Jantuah. The plaintiff alleged impersonation and challenged the defendant's identity and ownership. The defendant counterclaimed as owner and lessee, asserting a 99-year lease from the original owner and subleases to Lebanese nationals. The plaintiff's claim was based on a purported sublease from Madam Akua Addai, who had taken over a sublease from Lebanese nationals but mortgaged the property to Ghana Commercial Bank. The plaintiff claimed possession since 1975, but evidence showed the property was mortgaged until 1982, undermining his claim to possession and ownership.
read moreBENIN, JSC:- This is one case which in our candid opinion should not have been embarked upon at all in the first place. The property in dispute is numbered O.T.B. 511, Block XXVI, Adum, Kumasi. The plaintiff/appellant/appellant, hereinafter called the plaintiff does not claim he owns the property in dispute by acquisition of the plot or by construction of the building thereon. He does not also claim the property by purchase or through inheritance. He claims the property because he is a sub-lessee whose sub-lease has expired so he has become the owner of the property unless the true owner thereof came forward to claim it. The defendant/respondent/respondent, hereinafter called the defendant, claims to be the true owner who acquired the plot in his native name and leased it to two named persons for a term of fifty years to build on it and occupy same for that duration. Also the defendant holds the title deeds to the property which he tendered at the trial court. Nonetheless the plainti...