BOAMAH & ANSAH SIKATUO vs. AMPONSAH [2011]DLSC11115

Date	2011-07-27
Suit No.	(CIVILAPPEAL 14/3/2011)
Citation No.	[2011]DLSC11115

SOPHIA AK.UFFO JSC

SOPHIA ADINYIRA JSC

ANIN YEBOAH JSC

GBADEGBE JSC

VIDA AK.OTO-BAMFO JSC

GOD/RED YEBOAH DAME FOR THE APPELLANTS

KENNETH AGYEMANG ATTAFUAH (WITH HIM MARTIN KPEBU) FOR THE RESPONDENT

[2011]DLSC11115
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >BOAMAH &amp; ANSAH SIKATUO<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>AMPONSAH<o:p></o:p>[SUPREME
COURT, ACCRA]<o:p></o:p><div style="border-top: none; border-right: none; border-left: none; border-image: initial; border-bottom-width: 1.5pt; border-bottom-color: windowtext; padding: 0cm 0cm 1pt;">

<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
text-align:center;border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0cm;mso-padding-alt:0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm">(CIVILAPPEAL
14/3/2011) &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:
27 JULY 2011<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:<o:p></o:p>GOD/RED YEBOAH DAME FOR THE APPELLANTS.<o:p></o:p><div style="border-top: none; border-right: none; border-left: none; border-image: initial; border-bottom-width: 1.5pt; border-bottom-color: windowtext; padding: 0cm 0cm 1pt;">

SOPHIA AK.UFFO JSC, SOPHIA ADINYIRA JSC, ANIN YEBOAH JSC, GBADEGBE JSC, VIDA AK.OTO-BAMFO JSC<o:p></o:p>

</div>&nbsp;ANIN YEBOAH JSC
delivered the judgment of the court. This is an appeal from the judgment of the
Court of Appeal, confirming the previ ous decision of the High Court, Kumasi
in a contempt of court application. For the sake of convenience, in this
judgment, we shall refer to the applicant in the trial High Court as the
respondent and the respondents in the trial court as the appellants.<o:p></o:p>The facts of the case<o:p></o:p>The
circumstances in which the contempt application was taken out by the respondent
in the High Court are these: Following the death of Nana Kwaku Affum, the
Akwamuhene of Agogo Traditional Area, the stool became vacant and therefore it
became necessary for the kingmakers to find a successor. In his capacity as the
head of family, the respondent, Opanin Kwaku Amponsah, nominated one Nana Adu
Asabre; whilst the second appellant, Obaapanin Baafi Wuo, nominated the first
appellant herein, Opanin Kwame Boamah.<o:p></o:p>At
a meeting held subsequently to elect the successor to the stool from the two
nominees, the kingmakers agreed to determine their choice by the casting of
votes. Out of the sixteen votes cast, the majority opted for Nana Adu Asabre,
the nominee of the respondent head of family, while the other contestant,
Opanin Kwame Boamah, the first appellant herein, had five votes. The victorious
party thereafter performed the requisite customary rites by providing two
bottles of schnapps and five hundred (old) cedis, which was shared among the
elders . The first and second appellants herein, however, refused to accept
their share. It ap pears that from this moment, the Asakyiri Royal Family was
not at peace as subsequent events would attest to.<o:p></o:p>In
order to bring the family together, the respondent, as head of fam ily,
requested the Queen Mother of Asakyiri Family of Adansi Ak:rokeri, to intervene
in the matter but she referred the matter to the Chief of Morso, Nana Owusu
Ansah Sikatuo, the third appellant, herein. Instead of resolving the impasse,
the third appellant asked the queen mother of the royal family, to nominate one
of the two contesting parties, namely, Nana Adu Asabre and Opanin Kwame Boamah
to occupy the stool. This she did by nominating the first appellant, Opanin
Kwame Boamah. <o:p></o:p>Naturally,
the other faction felt aggrieved and&nbsp;
resorted to legal ac tion by taking out an action before the Judicial
Committee of the Agogo Traditional Council, claiming reliefs which were in
their nature, a cause or matter affecting chieftaincy, including a declaration
that Nana Adu Asabre had been lawfully nominated and elected for enstoolment as
the occupant of the Akwamu Stool of Agogo Traditional Area; and a further declaration
that the subsequent nomination and election of the first ap pellant herein,
Opanin Kwame Boamah, for enstoolment is void and of no legal effect. The
petitioners also claimed the ancillary relief of per petual injunction
restraining the defendants, their agents, servants and/or privies from holding
out the first appellant, Opanin Kwame Boamah, as the Akwamuhene Elect of
Agogo.<o:p></o:p>Whilst
the said&nbsp; petition was pending&nbsp; before the Judicial Committee of the Agogo
Traditional Council, and before its determination, the first appellant herein,
Opanin Kwame Boamah, who was the third defendant in the said chieftaincy
dispute, was enstooled as Akwamuhene of the Agogo Traditional Area. The
respondent in the instant case, Opanin Kwaku Amponsah, the head of family,
feeling overreached by his adversaries, so to say, commenced contempt of court
proceedings against the appellants herein for conspiring, colluding and
collaborating to have the first appellant, Opanin Kwame Boamah, enstooled in
the midst of tight security which enabled the swearing in to be don</main>