[2025]DLSC18366 • January 29, 2025 • Supreme Court •
KOFI OWUSU AND KWASI GYAMININ vs. JESSE MAPUTO AND 4 ORS
The dispute concerns ownership of a 5.15-acre parcel of land in Esreso, Kumasi, originally allocated in 1977 to the plaintiffs' father by the Esreso stool. Despite clear documentation including an allocation note and a lease, multiple defendants claimed equitable rights over the same land, supported by allocation notes and permits issued in the early 2000s. The plaintiffs alleged trespass and sought declarations of ownership and ejectment of defendants.
read moreJUDGMENT MAJORITY OPINION SACKEY TORKORNOO CJ: INTRODUCTION 1. This is one of those seemingly interminable litigation over land, despite the existence of clear documentation that establishes and validates the true ownership of the land in issue. The curious case on our hands shows that the stool occupant and customary grantor of land in Ashanti, together with a representative of the Asantehene’s secretariat as confirming party, allocated land to a citizen in 1977, and issued a lease to the progeny of the allottee in finalization of the grant. Notwithstanding the removal of all doubt about who the stool grantor of land wished to lease the land to, other citizens, two of who point to a promise of allocation, and one who points to an allocation note with no confirmation, insist that they have equitable rights over the same piece of land that must be turned into legal ownership by the courts. And despite a survey report that confirms that the claims are over the same piece of lan.....