BOI STOOL & ORS v. DANIEL ADDOQUAYE & ORS

AMADU JSC:-

INTRODUCTION

(1)My Lords, on the 22nd day of March 2023, we allowed this appeal by reversing the judgment of the Court of Appeal dated 26th November, 2015 and restored the judgment of the High Court dated 8th March 2011 “Subject to such modifications and variations as are contained in the reasoned decision of this court….” We now proceed to give our reasons;

(2)At the heart of this appeal, is an invitation to this court to determine the scope and effect of the decision of the Court of Appeal arising from a compensation claim from which the 3rd Defendant family, (described as Co-Defendant) the Numo Nmashie Family emerged victorious. The decision of the State Lands Tribunal in favour of the Nana Adu Mireku Agyemang III by Abban J. (as he then was) was reversed in favour of the Numo Nmashie Family of Teshie (3rdDefendant/Respondent herein) by the Court of Appeal coram of Apaloo C.J, Boison J.A and Wiredu J.A (as he then was). This appeal therefore involves a review of the decisions of some of the most celebrated jurists in our post-independence era, three of whom have been Chief Justices and all of whom of blessed memory.

(3)The determination of the key issues in this appeal therefore, will necessarily turn on our re-examination of the narrow issue of compensation for the state acquisition of 25.031, acres for public purpose and the eventual outcome of the decision of the Court of Appeal which had vested ownership rights of seventy (70) villages and land falling within a far larger area of about 72,000 acres which the Plaintiffs/Respondents/Appellants herein in their action at the High Court have alleged to have been fraudulently procured.

(4)Our determination of this appeal, and any orders to be made therefrom, require great circumspection especially when the judgment which is central to the appeal, that is, Civil Appeal No.49/80 IN RE: ADJANCOTE ACQUISITION; KLU VS. AGYEMANG III [1982-83]852 has subsisted in regulating the ownership, rights and interests in land within the entire area affected for more than three decades until the instant action commenced in the High Court on 25th June 2007.

(5)BACKGROUND FACTS:

What therefore started as a compensation claim, has now led to the present dispute seeking a determination of whether the Numo Nmashie Family of Teshie (the 3rd Defendant/Respondent) are owners of seventy (70) villages and land which they claim cover an acreage of over 72,454.09. Following the State acquisition of 25.031 acres o