EBUSUAPANYIN KWESI E. QUAINOO vs KWAME AFFENYI

By a writ of summons issued on 20 February 2023, the plaintiff claimed the following reliefs against the defendant:

(a) Declaration of title to all that piece of land lying situate and being at Ekumfi Abaka adjacent to Madam Evelyn’s poultry farm and opposite to the Abaka public cemetery and bounded to the north by the plaintiff’s land and also to the South, West and East by the plaintiffs land containing eight and half acres.

(b) Recovery of possession

(c) Perpetual injunction restraining the defendant from entering the subject matter of dispute and doing anything thereon.

(d) An order of the court directed at the defendant to pay to the plaintiff cash sum of Ghc 1,700.00 outstanding and overdue for payment on the 2022 farmland tenancy agreement.

(e) Cost

THE CASE OF THE PLAINTIFF

In the plaintiff's case, he granted the defendant eight and a half (8.5) acres of farmland on a yearly renewable tenancy for farming purposes only. The plaintiff asserts that the defendant made all the amounts payable except for Ghc 1700.00, which is due and payable for 2022. The plaintiff further asserts that in 2019, he noticed that the defendant was constructing a hut on the farm and stopped him because he had obtained the grant for farming, which did not include the construction of a hut on the farm. The plaintiff, however, asserts that in 2022, he noticed that the defendant had resumed the construction works with the addition of brick and mortar and got the police to stop him.

It is the plaintiff’s further case that on 12 August 2022, his counsel wrote a letter to notify the defendant of his decision to terminate the tenancy with effect from 31 December 2022 and accordingly advised him to harvest all his food crops and yield vacant possession to him on the 31 December 2022. However, the defendant has refused to yield vacant possession to the plaintiff. Rather, the defendant is now seen to be living in a hut he has constructed on the farmland. And has turned a deaf ear to the plaintiff's demands for an amicable resolution, hence the present action claiming the reliefs listed above.

THE DEFENDANTS’ DEFENCE AND COUNTERCLAIM

In his statement of defence and counterclaim, filed on 17 May 2023, the defendant asserted that he leased farmland encompassing 8.5 acres from the Dehyena Family of Ekumfi, facilitated by the plaintiff's predecessor (head of family), known as Ebusuapanyin Kwame Quainoo, with the consent of other family elders. Furthermore, the defendant contended