THE HARTLEY TRUST GHANA EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION vs. MRS. GEORGINA MENSAH DARRAH [2018]DLHC16529

Date	2018-11-30
Suit No.	SUIT NO. LDT/00037/17
Citation No.	[2018]DLHC16529

HIS LORDSHIP K. A. GYIMAH

NAA ABIANA MENSAH-YAWSON FOR GEORGE HEWARD-MILLS FOR PLAINTIFF.

OPOKU-AMPONSAH WITH BENEDICTA MAWUSI FIANOO FOR DEFENDANT.

[2018]DLHC16529
																																						<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" >THE HARTLEY TRUST GHANA
EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION<o:p></o:p>(PLAINTIFF)<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>MRS. GEORGINA MENSAH
DARRAH <o:p></o:p>(DEFENDANT)<o:p></o:p>[HIGH
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;">

SUIT NO. LDT/00037/17&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&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&nbsp;OCTOBER 2018<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL<o:p></o:p>NAA
ABIANA MENSAH-YAWSON FOR GEORGE HEWARD-MILLS FOR PLAINTIFF.<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;">

</div>CORAM<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;">

</div>&nbsp;<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;">

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

</div>&nbsp;Introduction<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;The facts of this suit are interesting
and somewhat brings to the fore the issue of schools under trees which has been
a major problem that has confronted our educational system over the years and
which the plaintiff supposedly sought to solve in its own small way.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p>&nbsp;Plaintiff’s
Case<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;The plaintiff describes itself as a
Trust registered with the United Kingdom Charity Commission with its chairman
being David Mustill who used to work with the British Airways as a senior
flight dispatcher but is now retired.&nbsp;
The sole object of the Trust according to the plaintiff is to advance
education in Kasoa through the provision of an educational centre, playing
fields, workshops and other developments that are charitable at law. <o:p></o:p>&nbsp;The plaintiff avers that during one of
the chairman’s visits to Ghana around the year 1994, he was touched by the
plight of children of a school at Nyanyano near Kasoa who were studying under a
tree and he therefore decided to help them out of their plight.&nbsp; He went back to the UK and single handedly
raised funds to commence an educational centre for the community.&nbsp; This eventually led to the establishment of
the plaintiff organization by a declaration of Trust in November 1996.&nbsp; The declaration of Trust was amended in
December 1998.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;The plaintiff avers that its chairman
met the defendant who was a waitress at the Sun Spot Hotel, Accra where he was
lodging and she agreed to help him realise his dream. This was because the
defendant claimed she knew of several contacts who could help him in that
endeavour.&nbsp; The plaintiff avers that its
chairman initially bought four plots of land at an amount of £1,200.00 together
with a bottle of schnapps.&nbsp; He later
acquired an additional twelve plots to make it a total of sixteen plots of land
on which the said educational project is currently situated. <o:p></o:p>&nbsp;It is the plaintiff’s case that David
Mustill made the grantors of the land include the name of the defendant on the
title deeds because he was wrongly advised that as a foreigner he could not
acquire land in Ghana except with the involvement of a Ghanaian. The plaintiff
further avers that when the story of the school was sounded out and things
began unfolding, it got funding from various sources including the Hartley
Trust Ghana Educational Foundation, British Airways and UNICEF Change for Food
Programme amongst others.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;It is the plaintiff’s case that the
tight schedule of their chairman who was in full time employment with the
British Airways at that time required that he get somebody to be in charge of
the project and he therefore appointed the defendant as a caretaker or
administrator to supervise activities on the educational project. The plaintiff
further states that it had to render accounts to the Charity Commission in the
UK in order to access future funding for the educational project.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p>