BALOGUN & ORS v. MINISTER OF INTERIOR
December 22, 1959
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- OLLENNU J
Areas of Law
- Immigration law
- Evidence Law
December 22, 1959
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
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JUDGMENT OF OLLENNU J.
(His lordship referred to the pleadings, and continued:—)
None of the plaintiffs can succeed in his action unless he is able to satisfy the Court, by preponderance of evidence as in all civil cases, that he is a citizen of Ghana within the terms of the Ghana Nationality and Citizenship Act (No. 1 of 1957) (see Cooper v. Slade (27 L.J. (Q.B.) 449), and Bruce v. Attorney-General (Civil Appeal No. 2/57, judgment of Appeal Court, unreported, delivered on the 24th November, 1957)).
The section of that Act appropriate to this case is section 4(1), together with the proviso thereto:
"4(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, every person born in Ghana, whether before or after the commencement of the Ghana Independence Act, 1957, who immediately before the date of commencement of this Act was a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies or a British protected person shall be a citizen of Ghana."
"Provided that a person shall not be such a citizen by virtue of this section if none of his parents or grandparents was born in Ghana." [p.454] To succeed on his claim, therefore, each of the plaintiffs must prove three things:
(i) that he himself was born in Ghana, and
(ii) that one of his parents, or one of his grandparents, was born in Ghana, and
(iii) that immediately before the commencement of the Ghana Nationality and Citizenship Act he was a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies or a British Protected person.
None of the plaintiffs could attend the trial because each had already been deported; but witnesses were called on behalf of each of them.
For the 1st plaintiff, his uncle (P.W.1) and his mother (P.W.4) gave evidence that 1st plaintiff was born in Accra, that he is a registered voter, and that he had stood as a candidate in the Accra Municipal Elections just before his deportation. The witnesses said that the 1st plaintiff's mother was also born in Accra. They said further that his grandmother (a woman proved to be too old and infirm to be able to come to Court) had declared to Police detectives who had interviewed her shortly after the commencement of this suit, that she herself was born at Salaga in Northern Ghana, and that the 1st plaintiff's mother (P.W.4) was born in Accra.
On behalf of the 2nd plaintiff his mother (P.W.2) gave evidence that he was born at Ejisu, and that she herself was born at Kintampo. She said that she did not know where her father came from; all she learnt about him was that he grew up i
AI Generated Summary
Justice Ollennu adjudicated a challenge by four deported individuals seeking declarations that their deportation orders were void because they were citizens of Ghana under the Ghana Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1957. Unable to attend due to deportation, each relied on relatives’ testimony about births and lineage: evidence placed the first plaintiff’s birth and his mother’s birth in Accra, with a grandmother from Salaga; the second at Ejisu and his mother at Kintampo; the third at Kumasi with his mother from Gambaga; and the fourth at Accra with maternal origin in Northern Ghana. Several were registered voters, and the first had stood for the Accra Municipal Council. The court held that family tradition evidence is an admissible hearsay exception in Ghana, citing Bruce v. Attorney-General, Redwar’s Commentaries, and Privy Council cases. The defendant offered no evidence, and suggestions of nationality change were purely hypothetical. Having met section 4(1)’s criteria and falling within section 3(1) of the Deportation Act, all deportation orders were declared null and void, with costs awarded.