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June 6, 2023
DISTRICT COURT
GHANA
CORAM
Reliefs sought:
1. Cash sum of GHC610.00 being money defendant owes Ensu Nyame Ye
Association
2. Any other orders that the court may deem fit to make
3. Interest and cost
Brief Facts
The plaintiff’s case is that defendant has been a member of Ensu Nyame Ye Association since 2012. One of the rules of the association is that a member shall refund all donations made to that member during a bereavement of that member, if that member decides not to be a member of that association. As it turned out, defendant benefited during the demise of her parents and when her daughter put to bed. Subsequently defendant has failed to pay monthly dues of GHC10 for the past fifteen (15) months, and has also failed to attend meetings nor contribute to donations made by the association. Despite several verbal and written demands, defendant has failed to pay up.
Opening her defense, defendant admitted the consequences and failure to pay monthly dues. She also admitted that it is a rule of the association that if a member decides to relinquish his/her membership, that member shall refund all donations
benefited during his/her membership of the association. In 2013 when her daughter gave birth, the association donated items because she paid her dues consistently. In 2017 and 2018, she lost her father and mother and the association donated to her respectively. In 2020 however, she took ill and unable to meet her financial obligations to the association. Contrary to her expectation that the association will be charitable to her, she was required to meet her obligations. In that year, some members volunteered to pay her monthly dues. In 2021, even though she had not recovered fully from her ailment, she managed to attend meetings and asked her son to use her remittance to pay her monthly dues on her behalf. She continued to attend all programs and meetings of the association in 2022 even though she had not paid her dues due to financial constraints. Somewhere in July 2022 there was an altercation between her and another female member of the association that was eventually resolved at the chief’s palace after the association had failed in that attempt. Subsequently the association decided to fine both and she did not accept nor reject. Defendant says the executives of the association visited her somewhere in 2022 to obtain the fine that was imposed and also told her, her feuding partner had voluntarily ceased to be a member of the association. Defendant says she pleaded for
AI Generated Summary
Ensu Nyame Ye Association sued a founding member for unpaid dues and failure to meet association obligations. The court found that the defendant, a member since 2012 who helped draft and enforce the rules and received donations upon family bereavements and a birth, later fell ill and stopped paying GHC10 monthly dues for 15 months, missed meetings, and was expelled. The magistrate emphasized that association rules operate as a contract and will be enforced unless unlawful or repugnant to law, constitution, natural justice, or good conscience. Dues are an essential term, and nonpayment undermines the association’s purpose. The court declined to award interest because no rule authorized it, rejected the defendant’s counterclaim for refund of contributions, and held the association’s dismissal rule enforceable. Judgment entered for the association: GHC610.00 unpaid dues and GHC200.00 costs.