A. R. DUODU-SAKYIAMA v. TEMA DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

APPAU, JSC. :

The Court of Appeal, on 6th December 2012, upheld an appeal against the judgment of the High Court, Tema dated 24th November 2010. Not satisfied with this decision of the Court of Appeal, the Plaintiff, who won in the trial High Court, has come before us on a further appeal for a reconsideration of his case. I re-call below the facts of the case as gathered from the evidence on record.

Facts of the case

The Plaintiff/respondent/appellant was an employee of the Tema Development Corporation, which is the Defendant/appellant/respondent herein. For purposes of brevity, he would simply be referred to as the ‘Appellant’ while the Defendant/appellant/respondent would assume the description ‘Respondent’.

Somewhere in the middle of 1986, the Appellant, while in the employment of the Respondent, was offered a 6.19 acre land belonging to his employer for farming purposes as an agricultural tenant. The letter that conveyed the offer, which the Appellant described as a lease in his testimony in the trial High Court, was dated 26/06/1986. It is headed; “AGRO-BASED INDUSTRIAL PLOT NO. 8A S.E. (TPD/T/AGR/607).

The opening paragraph of the offer letter, which the Appellant tendered in evidence in the trial High Court as Exhibit ‘A’ reads: “It is proposed to lease to you the above-mentioned plot measuring 2.50 Ha. (6.19 acres) approximately along the Kpone Road on the following basis:” The term of the proposed lease was sixty (60) years certain, commencing from the date the Respondent granted the Appellant right of entry. The Appellant was only required to pay an annual ground rent of five thousand, eight hundred and thirty eight old cedis (c5,838.00), which is now fifty eight Ghana pesewas (GHc0.58), to the Respondent for the use of the whole land as stipulated under the terms stated in the offer letter.

Paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 of the offer letter provided as follows:

“3. Your written acceptance of this offer together with the first year’s ground rent, survey and site plan fees must reach the Corporation within one calendar month from the date hereof. It must be emphasized that this offer will lapse if not accepted within the time stipulated.

4. Also, if the offer is accepted and the lessee has not commenced operations within two years, the Corporation will re-enter and re-allocate the said land.

5. As soon as we are satisfied that there is an uninterrupted and physical development of the plot for at least two consecutive years, our Legal Department