ABUSUAPANYIN KWAKU APAU ASIAM v. NANA ASIAMAH ABOAGYE & ORS

SOWAH, J.A:

The background facts of the dispute that has culminated in the present appeal by the defendant/appellant from the decision of the High Court, Koforidua are as follows:

Sometime in 1991, four families, namely the Okyeame Asiam, Nana Obeng Kwabena, Akyeampong and Wontumi families of Larteh Ahenase decided to sue the Okuapemhene Nana Addo Dankwah III and the Ministry of Education for, among others, declaration of title and recovery of possession of 435.606 acres of their family land. The

heads of Nana Obeng Kwabena, Akyeampong and Wontumi families executed a power of attorney, appointing Nana Asiamah Aboagye who was the head of the Okyeame Kwame Asiam family and the defendant/appellant herein to prosecute the case.

Suit No. 2539/91 entitled Nana Asiamah Aboagye vs. Nana Addo Dankwah III & Another was duly commenced at the Accra High Court on 5th November 1991 and Judgment in the case was delivered on 27th September 2002 in favour of the plaintiffs to recover possession of the land but MINUS 37.60 acres which the court found was in the adverse possession of Okuapeman Secondary School. At the trial, a plan of the land showing delineations for each of the four families was tendered.

Some 6 years after that victory, the plaintiff/respondent herein, purporting to be the head of the Nana Obeng Kwabena family of Larteh Ahenease instituted the action which is the subject of this present appeal. He alleged that subsequent to the 2002 judgment, the defendant/appellant had without the knowledge and consent of the Nana Obeng Kwabena family who were the rightful owners of the land, caused the entire 398 acres of land to be registered in his name and had started disposing of portions of it. The plaintiff asserted that the defendant and his family as well as the Wontumi and Akyeampong families were licensees who were permitted by Nana Obeng Kwabena to work on portions of his land.

The defendant resisted the claim, also asserting his family’s ownership by virtue of first settlement by an ancestor in about 1450. He admitted being given a power of attorney to prosecute the case against the Okuapemanhene but contended that the heads of the

Nana Obeng Kwabena, Wontumi and Akyeampong families had stated that they had no money to finance the litigation and had declared that if he was capable of litigating to claim the land, he could take the land as recompense if he succeeded and bear the cost if he lost, and so after his victory he entered the land and has regi