APPIAH v. NKRUMAH AND OTHERS

JUDGMENT OF ASARE-KWAPONG J.

The plaintiff instituted this action in a representative capacity as the leader of a group of Akwapim farmers who joined together to form a company or syndicate with the purpose of purchasing farmland. Apart from a Togolese member of the syndicate, it appears that all the original members of the syndicate were dead at the time of the action; the plaintiff was the successor of his late uncle and elder brother Ahyiah and Yaw Gyebi respectively, the latter was the leader of the syndicate. It is the usual practice of such groups on the death of a member, for his successor at law to be substituted as a member; it is in accordance with this practice that the plaintiff became the leader of the group following the death of his uncle and elder brother respectively.

The case of the plaintiff was that in or about 1932 the original group left their native Akwapim and were prospecting for good farming land, and bought the land in dispute from Barima Nketia, the Chief of Pinaman, and his elders in or about 1932. He worked on the land with his uncle called Ahyiah who is now deceased and whom he inherited; documents were prepared on the sale which he tendered as exhibits A and A1.; he stated the value of the land and tendered a plan prepared on [p.719] the land and marked exhibit B. The syndicate went into cultivation of the land and made cocoa farms thereon and built cottages on it and after their death their lawful representatives succeeded them.

The cause of action arose when some years after, that is in 1964, some subjects of the stool, the defendants, started allocating portions of the syndicate's land to themselves and to tenants. The evidence reveals that during the lifetime of Barima Boasiako II, the Chief of Pinaman (on whose stool land the land in dispute is) a dispute arose between the syndicate and Barima Boaslako II, the latter having been dissatisfied that the syndicate brought a surveyor unto the land without his consent and knowledge. The syndicate and Nana Boasiako II appeared before the Okyenhene the overlord of the land. According to the plaintiff the syndicate was found liable for having brought the surveyor unto the land without the knowledge of the chief and his elders of the stool despite the fact that the land was bought legally. Consequent upon this arbitration, it was decided that another document be prepared to cover the land in dispute. As a result of this decision an indenture exhibit D was prepared indicating