REPUBLIC vs. AKIM ABUAKWA TRADITIONAL COUNCIL; EX PARTE SAKYIRAA II [1977]DLHC1420

Date	1977-09-17
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1977]DLHC1420

APATU-PLANGE AG.J.

OKYERE DARKO (WITH HIM ALEX ASANTE-TANNOR ADU-AMANKWA AND KWAKU BOATENG) FOR THE APPLICANT.

OFOSU-ASANTE (WITH HIM DR. SETH TWUM AND NANA AKUFO-ADDO) FOR THE RESPONDENTS.

[1977]DLHC1420
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >REPUBLIC<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;vs. <o:p></o:p>AKIM ABUAKWA TRADITIONAL COUNCIL; EX PARTE SAKYIRAA II <o:p></o:p>[HIGH COURT, KOFORIDUA]<o:p></o:p>[1977]2 GLR 115<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">

DATE:
17 SEPTEMBER
1976<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:&nbsp;&nbsp; <o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">

OKYERE DARKO (WITH HIM ALEX ASANTE-TANNOR,
ADU-AMANKWA AND KWAKU BOATENG) FOR THE APPLICANT.<o:p></o:p>

OFOSU-ASANTE (WITH HIM DR. SETH TWUM AND NANA
AKUFO-ADDO) FOR THE RESPONDENTS.<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM:
<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">

APATU-PLANGE AG.J.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF APATU-PLANGE AG. J.<o:p></o:p>This is
an application by Nana Akosua Sakyiraa II, queenmother of Akim Abuakwa
Traditional Area, praying this court for an order of certiorari to quash the
decision of the Akim Abuakwa Traditional Council which resulted in her summary
destoolment. The application was vehemently opposed by the respondents.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Before
proceeding to deal with the very determined and interesting arguments adduced
by both sides, it will be necessary to outline in brief the events and
circumstances that led to the present application.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>On
Monday, 2 August 1976, a meeting of all persons whose presence is requisite for
the nomination of a new paramount chief for the Akim Abuakwa Traditional Area
was convened at Ofori Panin Fie, Kibi, for the purpose of nominating a new
Omanhene to succeed the late Nana Ofori-Atta III.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
applicant herein was one of such persons, and was present. In the course of the
deliberations it became necessary for the applicant, as custom demands, to
nominate the new Okyenhene, and after consultation with her family and the
kingmakers she announced that she was nominating one Odehye Asante for election
and installation as the now Okyenhene. It turned out that this nomination did
not receive the approval and support of some of the kingmakers then present,
and they made this known to the queenmother. What followed thereafter has not
been made very clear to this court, and I will, therefore, refrain from
commenting on it. Suffice it to say that those kingmakers who rejected the
queenmother’s nominee went on to nominate one Dr. Alex Fredua Agyemang for
election and installation as the new Okyenhene. When the queenmother got to
know of the nomination of the said Dr. Alex Fredua Agyemang, she swore the
great oath of Akim Abuakwa against the said nomination as being irregular. The
respondents herein, even though admitting that in fact the queenmother swore
the great oath of Akim Abuakwa, contend that she swore the said oath to say
that she had no other odehye to nominate apart from Odehye Asante. Be that as
it may, the present applicant and some of the kingmakers became dissatisfied
with the said nomination of the new Okyenhene as, according to them, it
transgressed prevailing and established Akim Abuakwa customary law.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Consequently
on the next day, 3 August 1976, the applicant and those kingmakers who opposed
the nomination proceeded to Dodowa where they filed a petition at the Eastern
Regional House of Chiefs for a declaration that the purported nomination,
election and installation of Dr. Alex Fredua Agyemang, the Okyenhene-elect, is
contrary to the established and prevailing Akim Abuakwa customary law, illegal,
null and void and of no effect in law whatsoever and ought to be set aside.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Meanwhile
the kingmakers who had on the previous day nominated Dr. Alex Fredua Agyemang
as the Okyenhene decided to meet at 2 p.m the same day to elect him as the new
Okyenhene. The applicant did not turn up at the said meeting. The ceremony of
election, therefore, proceeded in her absence and the new Okyenhene was carried
shoulder high through the principal streets of Kibi. The ceremony could not be
completed before nightfall and consequently the swearing of the oath of
allegiance had to be postponed to the following morning, i.e. Tuesday, 3 August
1976. On the next morning, when the meeting was reconvened the applicant again
failed to turn up. A senior linguist of the Okyenhene was sent to her, but she
still refused to attend the call. The morning’s function was therefore
performed without her.<o:p></o:p>