KWABENA ECHIE AND OTHER vs. AMA DONKOR [2010]DLCA3703

Date	2010-04-30
Suit No.	CIVIL APPEAL NO. H1/7/2010
Citation No.	[2010]DLCA3703

MARIAMA OWUSU (MISS) J.A. (PRESIDING)

F.G. KORBIEH J.A.

IRENE C. DANQUAH (MS.) J.A.

[2010]DLCA3703
																																						<div class="restriction-wrapper">
														<div class="container-lg">
															<div class="row">
																<div class="col-md-12 restricted-content">
																	<div class="restricted-content-img-wrapper">
																		<div class="lock-icon bounce-7">
																			<img class=""
																				src="https://www.dennislawgh.com/dl-assets/dl-images/lock-content.png"
																				alt="Subscription based content">
																		</div>
																	</div>
																	 
																		<a href="https://www.dennislawgh.com/login"
																		class="btn btn-primary btn-lg"
																		style="font-family: 'open sans'; text-transform: capitalize; border-radius: 8px"> 
																		Login to Read Full Case </a>
																	 
																	
																</div>
															</div>
														</div>
													</div>
													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >KWABENA ECHIE AND
OTHER<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>AMA DONKOR <o:p></o:p>[COURT OF APPEAL, KUMASI]<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">

CIVIL
APPEAL NO. H1/7/2010&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;DATE: 30TH
APRIL, 2010<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">

MARIAMA
OWUSU (MISS), J.A. (PRESIDING), F.G. KORBIEH, J.A. AND IRENE C. DANQUAH (MS.),
J.A.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">

JUDGMENT<o:p></o:p>

</div>JUDGMENT
BY COURT:<o:p></o:p>The Appellants were the plaintiffs
in the Court below.&nbsp;&nbsp; On the 13/11/2003,
they jointly sued the Defendant in the High Court, Mampong-Ashanti, claiming
the following reliefs:<o:p></o:p>(1)&nbsp;&nbsp; A declaration of title to Plot No. 8, Block
A situate, lying and being at a place commonly known as and called Tadieso or
Tataforoso on Mampong stool land and bounded by Plots Nos. 4,12 and 7 which
they claimed to be the ancestral property of the 2nd Plaintiff;<o:p></o:p>(2)&nbsp;&nbsp; Damages for trespass; and<o:p></o:p>(3)&nbsp;&nbsp; Perpetual injunction restraining the
defendant, her agents, assigns servants and workmen from entering unto the
land.<o:p></o:p>The basis of the Plaintiffs’ claim.
was that the land in question was the ancestral property of the 2nd
Plaintiff who as head of family, had allocated portions of a larger tract of
land to individuals for building purposes without any challenge form anyone;
that the land in dispute had been in the possession of the 2nd
Plaintiff’s immediate family who had always farmed on it and still does to
date; that the land is bounded by the properties of Opanin Kwabena Dapaa
(Deceased) and Nana Abunyewah (also deceased); that in course of time the land
became Mampong town “outskirts land” for which reason the 2nd
Plaintiff got the Town and Country Planning Department to make a layout of it;
that one plot demarcated in the layout was Plots No. 8 which&nbsp; the 2nd Plaintiff gave out to the
1st Plaintiff to build a house on; that the 1st Plaintiff
went into immediate possession and also sent his allocation paper to the
Mampong Traditional Council which accepted the same and accordingly the 1st
Plaintiff paid all the necessary fees; that the 1st plaintiff also
registered his plot at the District Assembly and has paid all rates and taxes
after which he started erecting a building on the land; that the defendant has
laid unlawful claim to the land in dispute and challenged the plaintiffs’ title
to the land.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The Defendant resisted the claim of
the Plaintiffs to the land and in Statement of Defence, averred as follows
(among others): that the land in dispute was her bonafide property and formed
part of her ancestral property which had been carved into plots and that the
plaintiffs’ claim over it was false; that plots no.8, block A, Tadieso or
Tataforoso was subsequently given to her daughter, Juliana Asante Boateng in
11996 and she applied to the Mampong Plot Allocation Committee which declared
the plot vacant and recommended its allocation to her; that the 1st
Plaintiff’s allocation note had since been withdrawn by the Mampong Traditional
Council Allocation Committee; that Juliana Boateng had already sued the 1st
Plaintiff over the same piece of land in the Circuit Court in Kumasi when the 1st
Plaintiff built his house on the land and over the strenuous objections of the
Defendant; that at the time the 2nd Plaintiff applied to the Mampong
Traditional Council for the allocation of the plot to the 1st
Plaintiff, the Defendant had already allocated the plot to her daughter
afore-mentioned; that the Plaintiffs’ action was dismissed.&nbsp;&nbsp; The Defendant then counter-claimed for:<o:p></o:p>(a)&nbsp;&nbsp;
A declaration of title to the land in dispute.<o:p></o:p>(b)&nbsp;&nbsp;
Recovery of possession.<o:p></o:p>(c)&nbsp;&nbsp;
Damages for trespass.<o:p></o:p>(d)&nbsp;&nbsp; Perpetual injunction against the Plaintiffs,
their agents, servants, privies and all those claiming through them from
interfering with the plot in dispute.<o:p></o:p>The Plaintiffs filed a reply and
Defence to Counter-Claim as well as a Summons for Directions.&nbsp;&nbsp; The issues that were set down for trial were
the following:<o:p></o:p>(1)&nbsp;&nbsp; Whether or not the plot in dispute formed
part of the ancestral properties of the 2nd Plaintiff or the
Defendant.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>(2)&nbsp;&nbsp; Whether or not the Mampong Plot Allocation
Committee can lawfully allocate plots of land belonging to individual families
to other individuals without the consent and concurrence of individual family
owners.<o:p></o:p>(3)&nbsp;&nbsp; Whether or not the 2nd Plaintiff
has lawfully given out the plot in dispute to the 1st Plaintiff.<o:p></o:</main>