NKRUMAH vs. SERWAH AND OTHERS [1984]DLCA947

Date	1984-12-19
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1984]DLCA947

EDUSEI JA

MENSA BOISON JA

OSEI-HWERE J.A.

E. A. OSEW FOR THE PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT.

AGYEMAN-BEMPAH FOR THE DEFENDANTS-RESPONDENTS.

[1984]DLCA947
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" ><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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NKRUMAH <o:p></o:p>

{COURT OF APPEAL, ACCRA} <o:p></o:p>

[1984-86] 1 GLR 190<o:p></o:p>

DATE:
19 DECEMBER 1984<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>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">

E.
A. OSEW FOR THE PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT. <o:p></o:p>

AGYEMAN-BEMPAH
FOR THE DEFENDANTS-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">

EDUSEI, MENSA BOISON AND OSEI-HWERE JJ.A.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF OSEI-HWERE J.A.<o:p></o:p>Osei-Hwere
J.A. delivered the judgment of the court. On his own testimony the
plaintiff-appellant (hereinafter referred to as the plaintiff) is well educated
and taught in both secondary and elementary schools. It is a paradox that the
very blessing of his good education, as will be seen hereafter, was to fare ill
with him in the action he launched at the High Court, Kumasi. That action
sought the following reliefs against the defendants-respondents (hereinafter
referred to as the defendants) jointly and severally:<o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt;
margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;border:none;mso-padding-alt:
31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;mso-border-shadow:yes">“i A
declaration of title to and possession of house No. 18, Block III, Yenyawso,
Kumasi. ii Damages for trespass. <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt;
margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;border:none;mso-padding-alt:
31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;mso-border-shadow:yes">iii
Perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, their agents, workmen or
servants from interfering with the plaintiff’s ownership and possession of
house No. 18, Block III, Yenyawso, Kumasi. <o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt;
margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;border:none;mso-padding-alt:
31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;mso-border-shadow:yes">iv A
declaration that a purported assignment dated 20 December 1977 to Opanin Kofi
Nyamekye and the subsequent assignment to the first defendant be declared void.”<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
co-defendant-respondent (hereinafter referred to as the co-defendant) who is
the appellant’s mother was embroiled in the dispute not out of her own choice
but because the first defendant-respondent forced her into it.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Briefly,
the plaintiff’s case was this: He was the lessee in possession of a plot of
land, No. 18, Block 3, at Yenyawso, Kumasi on which he erected a house of
sandcrete blocks. In 1977 he fell upon hard times and so he approached the
second defendant who agreed to give him a loan of ¢10,000 to be repaid in two
years plus ¢12,000 interest. The second defendant then took the plaintiff and
his witnesses to a lawyer’s office to prepare two documents, the first to the
effect that the second defendant had bought the house and the second to the
effect that if the plaintiff refunded the ¢22,000 in two years’ time then he
would have his house back. After the transaction he remained in occupation of
the house and his tenants continued to pay rents to him. He later went to check
from the second defendant if the two documents had been completed but he was
not in. He followed up to the lawyer’s office where he was informed that the
second defendant had collected the documents. He tried vain to get in touch
with the second defendant. He was at his village when word reached him that the
second defendant had sued at the district court to eject him and the tenants
for refusing to attorn tenants to him. He filed his defence challenging the
second defendants title. This action now seems to be left in a state of
desuetude.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>In the
meantime a second tragedy hit him when his mother and some of her relations
negotiated and sold the house to the first defendant. When news of the
negotiations to sell reached him in Accra he wrote to warn both his mother and
the first defendant. He mounted his action in the High Court, Kumasi to asset
his title.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
second defendant denied that there was any loan transaction between him and the
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