MAMUDU WANGARA vs. GYATO WANGARA [1983]DLCA2153

Date	1983-01-24
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1983]DLCA2153

JIAGGE JA

MENSA BOISON JA

ABBAN J.A.

DR. SETH TWUM FOR THE APPELLANT.

NO REPRESENTATION BY OR FOR THE RESPONDENTS.

[1983]DLCA2153
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >MAMUDU WANGARA <o:p></o:p>vs. <o:p></o:p>GYATO WANGARA <o:p></o:p>[COURT OF APPEAL, ACCRA]<o:p></o:p>[1982-83] GLR 639<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:
24 JANUARY
1983<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">

DR. SETH TWUM FOR THE APPELLANT. <o:p></o:p>

NO REPRESENTATION BY OR 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 1.0pt 0in">

JIAGGE, MENSA BOISON AND ABBAN JJ.A.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF ABBAN J.A.<o:p></o:p>Abban
J.A. delivered the judgment of the court. The appeal is from the judgment of
the High Court, Sunyani, delivered on 24 February 1981. The judgment allowed an
appeal from the judgment of the District Court, Dormaa-Ahenkro, dated 20 July
1979. In the district court, the respondent, hereafter called the plaintiff,
had asked for two reliefs against the appellant, hereafter called the
defendant, namely a declaration of title to house No. AB 18, Dormaa-Ahenkro and
¢1,000 damages.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
parties were not Ghanaians. They were strangers from Upper Volta now renamed
Burkina Faso. The plaintiff’s case was that the land on which the house was
built was granted to him and one Chemogo by the Moshiehene at Dormaa-Ahenkro
for services rendered to the said Moshiehene. The plaintiff and the said
Chemogo built the house on the land. The plaintiff occupied part of the house
while Chemogo occupied the remaining part. At the time the house was built, no
house rates were being levied by the authorities. But when payment of these
rates was introduced in the area, the plaintiff and Chemogo agreed that the
whole house should be registered in the name of Chemogo alone for the payment
of house rates.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Chemogo
fell foul with the law and was deported from the country. Thereafter the
plaintiff started paying the said house rates himself. However, the defendant,
some time after the departure of Chemogo from Ghana, called upon the plaintiff
to pay rent of ¢4 a month for the portion of the house he, the plaintiff, was
occupying. The defendant threatened to eject the plaintiff from the house if
he, the plaintiff, failed to accede to that request. The demand for the payment
of rent sparked off the litigation.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
defendant did not deny demanding rent from the plaintiff. The basis for his
demand was that the defendant had been made the caretaker of the whole house,
including the portion of the house being occupied by the plaintiff. The
defendant contended that the whole house was built by one Sirikye Wangara and
his son Chemogo. On the death of Sirikye, his son, Chemogo, took over the
control of the house and paid all the rates which were exigible on the house.
Chemogo, before he left Ghana on the deportation order, handed over all
documents on the house to the defendant as there were no relations of the late
Sirikye or Chemogo living in the area. But later a grandniece of Sirikye,
called Sita turned up. Being the only close relation of both Sirikye and
Chemogo, Sita took possession of the house.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>According
to the defendant, at the time Sita arrived at Dormaa-Ahenkro, the portion of
the house occupied by Chemogo had been locked up. So Sita caused it to be
opened and to be rented out to tenants. Sita left the caretakership of the
house to one Amara. But Amara for one reason or the other could not collect the
rents and the lot fell on the defendant. It was under those circumstances that
the demand for payment of rent was made on the plaintiff by the defendant.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>It must
be observed that the plaintiff was neither a relation of the late Sirikye nor
of Chemogo. Amara and Sita - son and grandniece respectively of the late
Sirikye - and one Seidu Moshie, gave evidence which supported the contention of
the defendant that the land was originally acquired by the late Sirikye from
the Moshiehene, and was never granted to the plaintiff and that after the house
had been built by the late Sirikye and his son, Chemogo, the plaintiff who
happened to be a friend of Chemogo was invited to come and stay in the house
without paying rent. So the plaintiff could not lay a claim of ownership to the
house.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>