JOSEPH ANSAH DANSO, STEPHEN AMAKYE LARTEY AND REV. SAMUEL ABOA (PLAINTIFFS/RESPONDENTS) vs. NANA MENSAH ATTAKORAH II [2017]DLCA4991

JOSEPH ANSAH DANSO, STEPHEN AMAKYE LARTEY AND REV. SAMUEL ABOA (PLAINTIFFS/RESPO... [2017]DLCA4991

Date	2017-10-30
Suit No.	SUIT NO. H1/19/2016
Citation No.	[2017]DLCA4991

HONYENUGA JA (PRESIDING)

GYAN JA

SUURBAAREH JA

MR. RAYMOND BUGNABU FOR THE DEFENDANT/APPELLANT

NANA AMA PANYIN AMOAH FOR THE PLAINTIFFS/RESPONDENTS.

[2017]DLCA4991
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >JOSEPH ANSAH DANSO,
STEPHEN AMAKYE LARTEY AND REV. SAMUEL ABOA<o:p></o:p>(PLAINTIFFS/RESPONDENTS)<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>NANA MENSAH ATTAKORAH II<o:p></o:p>(DEFENDANT/APPELLANT)<o:p></o:p>[COURT OF APPEAL, CAPE COAST]<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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SUIT NO. H1/19/2016&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 OCTOBER, 2017<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:<o:p></o:p>MR. RAYMOND BUGNABU FOR
THE DEFENDANT/APPELLANT<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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NANA
AMA PANYIN AMOAH FOR THE PLAINTIFFS/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;
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HONYENUGA
JA (PRESIDING), GYAN JA, SUURBAAREH JA<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;
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JUDGMENT<o:p></o:p>

</div>SAEED
K. GYAN, JA<o:p></o:p>I should begin by stating that the
Courts are in recent times firmly turning their back against sterile technicalities
in the pursuit of substantial justice. Therefore, sophistry cannot be suffered
to find an honourable space in the hallowed corridors of justice in our
contemporary times. <o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>This appeal seems to me to be a
classical example of where a party seeks to stand justice on its head by
encouraging the Court to enable the party to eat its cake and have it.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Any attempt to primitively strip
delicate Femme Justice naked ought to
be resisted, or at least discouraged so as not to pollute the stream of justice
and hence bring the Courts into public disrepute and odium.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Some eighty or so years ago, a group of
brave and adventurous men from the Akwapim Hills in the now Eastern Region of
Ghana set off to the Western Province of the Gold Coast in search of the Golden
fleece of large, fertile virgin land. In that adventure, they formed themselves
into loose groups, characterised as syndicates, to buy as much land as they
could possibly obtain from the Chiefs and Elders of that part of the Gold
Coast.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Relevant to the instant case were the
groups which came to be referred to respectively as Atakora &amp; Co; Otu Bekoe
&amp; Co. and Kwaku Krow &amp; Co. Arguably, the spear-head or “Captain” of
this land buying expedition was one G.S.O. Atakora, who was later called Nana
Atakora Koi III. At the time of the acquisition he was said to be the
“secretary” of the three syndicates, having been a school teacher.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The persons now engaged in the
controversy which had led to the litigation from which the instant appeal has
emerged are descendants or persons who otherwise claim their right,&nbsp; title or interest to the original members of
the aforesaid land buying expedition, who unlike their forebears, have
apparently been unable to keep to that sense of brotherhood, singleness of purpose
and common understanding which facilitated the ancient procurement of the land,
the subject matter in dispute. <o:p></o:p>The immediate trigger of the instant
litigation, which started at the High Court, Sekondi, however, touches or turns
on the huge sum of ¢790,000, 800.00 being compensation allegedly claimed by the
Defendant and paid to him in respect of a portion of the large tract of land which
was apparently procured by the land purchasing syndicates, referred to earlier
in this judgment, in the Wassa Traditional Area of the Western Region.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The complaint of the Plaintiffs was
that the Defendant had blissfully ignored the collective character of the land
in respect of which he had personally put in a claim for compensation, </main>