THE REPUBLIC vs. NII DAA NYINAA-NSE II AND 4 OTHERS EX PARTE F.K.A. COMPANY LIMITED [2014]DLCA5023

THE REPUBLIC vs. NII DAA NYINAA-NSE II AND 4 OTHERS EX PARTE F.K.A. COMPANY LIM... [2014]DLCA5023

Date	2014-11-26
Suit No.	MARIAMA OWUSU (MS) JA (PRESIDING), L.L. MENSAH JA, M. M. AGYEMANG (MRS.) JA
Citation No.	[2014]DLCA5023

MARIAMA OWUSU (MS) JA (PRESIDING)

L.L. MENSAH JA

M. M. AGYEMANG (MRS.) JA

MR. YAW OPPONG FOR THE APPELLANTS / RESPONDENTS

MR. JEFFERY QUIST FOR THE RESPONDENT / APPELLANT

[2014]DLCA5023
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >THE REPUBLIC<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>NII DAA NYINAA-NSE II AND 4 OTHERS<o:p></o:p>(RESPONDENTS / APPELLANTS)<o:p></o:p>EX PARTE F.K.A. COMPANY
LIMITED (APPLICANT / RESPONDENT)<o:p></o:p>[COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION), ACCRA]<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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CIVIL
APPEAL NO.:H1/91/2014&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;26TH NOVEMBER, 2015<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:<o:p></o:p>MR. YAW OPPONG FOR THE
APPELLANTS / RESPONDENTS<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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</div>CORAM:<o:p></o:p>MARIAMA
OWUSU (MS) JA (PRESIDING), L.L. MENSAH JA, M. M. AGYEMANG (MRS.) JA<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border-top:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
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</div>AGYEMANG
JA:<o:p></o:p>This is an appeal against
the judgment of the High Court, Land Division, Accra where in the appellants,
convicted contemnors, were sentenced to fines as well as to the execution of
bonds to be of good behaviour for two years or in default one month
imprisonment with hard labour.<o:p></o:p>These are the matters antecedent to the present
appeal:<o:p></o:p>The applicant/respondent (hereafter referred to as
the respondent) brought an application before the High Court seeking an order
of committal of the respondents/appellants (hereafter referred to as the
appellants) for contempt of court. The application was supported by a
twenty-one paragraph affidavit of the 9th of April 2010, and also by
three supplementary affidavits dated 28th April 2010, 15th
November 2010, and 1st March 2011.<o:p></o:p>The respondent is the owner of an expanse of land
described as being and lying at New Weija, measuring 95.194 acres, per a
customary grant of same from Nii Anto Nyame, former Chief of Weija in 1980 to
its Managing Director which was subsequently reduced into writing in favour of
the respondent company. After the said grant, the respondent reduced the land
into its possession by granting portions to prospective developers, demarcating
roads, and extending electricity to the land. The respondent had quiet
enjoyment thereof until the death of its grantor.<o:p></o:p>The first appellant herein is the successor of Nii Anto
Nyame the grantor. In his application for committal of the appellants for
contempt, the respondent alleged that by reason of the acts of the first
appellant and his elders which were inconsistent with its ownership of the land
(including grants the said persons purported to make of portions of the land to
certain parties), it brought actions before the High Court in the vindication
of its rights. In one such suit described as Suit No. L401/2001; FKA Company
Ltd v. Effah Sarkodie, the High Court adjudged him owner of the said tract of
land. The judgment was affirmed by the Court of Appeal in its judgment of 16th
March 2007 (Civ. App. No. H1/181/2007), and then by the Supreme Court on 27th
October 2008 (Civ. App. No.JA/33/2007). An application for the review of the
Supreme Court’s decision was dismissed by the Supreme Court. <o:p></o:p>It was the case of the respondent that the appellants
had, in disregard of the said judgments of the courts, trespassed on the said
land, and by means of intimidation, harassment, violence, extortion of monies
from developers, and purported grants to other parties, pursued the enterprise
of dispossessing the respondent and its grantees thereof.<o:p></o:p>In the supplementary affidavits, the respondent
deposed further that in disregard of the pending application for committal for
contempt, one of the purported grantees: the 8th respondent herein
had persisted in his act of winning sand on the land. It was also deposed that
the appellants had purported to grant a portion of the land to certain persons
referred to as: Kwantwi Brothers, and furthermore, had by means of violence,
prevented officials of the court and the Police, from executing an order of the
High Court Coram Elizabeth Ankumah J to demolish structures on the land.<o:p></o:p>The respondent also brought to the attention of the
court, two judgments of the High Court Coram Agnes Dordzie JA and Aduama-Osei
JA. The former dismissed a claim by the Lands Commission against the respondent
wherein it was asserted that the land had been compulsorily acquired in 1959
and was therefore government land. In the latter, the respondent had been
adjudged owner of the land.<o:p></o:p>The appellants opposed the application and denied
the allegations. In a supplementary affidavit, they however set out what they
considered to be their main defence to the application being: that the land had
been adjudged per a judgment of the High Court Coram Senyo Dzamefe J (as he
then was) in F.K.A. Company Ltd v. Nii. Daanyinaa-Nse II and 3 Ors Suit No.
72/06, to be </main>