HANSEN AND ANOTHER v. ANKRAH AND ANOTHER
1978
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- AMUA-SEKYI J
Areas of Law
- Civil Procedure
- Property and Real Estate Law
- Equity and Trusts
- Family Law
1978
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
Members of the Mantse Ankrah family of Otublohum, Accra, disputed the management of family assets. Section heads John William Hansen (Ankrah) and Mark Kodjoe Ankrah (Ayi) alleged that the wider family head, Joseph Adjabeng Ankrah (Nii Ayi Ankrah I), and Okanta section head, Nii Amon Okanta, withdrew ¢4,000 from the family’s Ghana Commercial Bank account against the plaintiffs’ opposition, failed to deposit a ¢160,547.40 compensation cheque from the Lands Department, and re-allocated land at North Kaneshie previously conveyed. Seeking mandatory and prohibitory injunctions under Order 50, they challenged a purported second account operated solely by the wider head. Amua-Sekyi J rejected the preliminary objection that the head was unaccountable, affirmed that senior and branch heads may demand accounts, and granted injunctions requiring immediate deposit and restraining withdrawals and dispositions pending judgment.
JUDGMENT OF AMUA-SEKYI J.
The plaintiffs and the defendants are all members of the Mantse Ankrah family of Otublohum, Accra. The family comprises three sections, namely, Ankrah, Ayi and Okanta. The first defendant, Joseph Adjabeng Ankrah, also known as Nii Ayi Ankrah I, is the head of the Mantse Ankrah family as a whole; the first plaintiff, John William Hansen, is the head of the Ankrah section; the second plaintiff, Mark Kodjoe Ankrah, is the head of the Ayi section; and the second defendant, Nii Amon Okanta, is the head of the Okanta section. The plaintiffs have brought this action in their capacities as the heads of the Ankrah and Ayi sections against the first defendant as the head of the wider family and the second defendant as the head of the Okanta section for:
“(1) An account of the following sums received by the first defendant for and on behalf of the Mantse Ankrah family of Dadebease Otublohum, Accra, that is to say: (a) ¢160, 547.40, the proceeds of a cheque from the Ministry of Finance, Accra, on 13 September 1977; (b) ¢13,968.95 being part of an amount from the High Court, Accra, on 30 March 1977; and (c) ¢4,000 received by the defendants from the Ghana Commercial Bank, High Street Branch, Accra, in or about August 1977.
(2) An account of all sums received by the defendants for and on behalf of the said family in respect of its land at Awudome or North Kaneshie, Accra, since 22 December 1976.
[p.670]
(3) An order upon the defendants to pay to the credit of the said family’s current account with the said branch bank whatever sums are found due to the said family, on the said accounts.
(4) Further or other relief as in the circumstances may be just, including in particular a declaration that the first defendant is liable to be deposed from the headship of the said family for breach of trust disclosed by the said accounting.”
In a statement of claim, which has been incorporated by reference in the affidavit sworn in support of the present application, the plaintiffs aver that:
“(3) On 30 March 1977, the first defendant received from the High Court Registrar, Accra, a sum of money in cash, whereof a balance of ¢13,968.95 belonged to the said family.
(4) About one week later the said family opened a current account with the Ghana Commercial Bank, High Street Branch, Accra; into which the said ¢13,968.95 was paid. The signatories on the said current account were the plaintiffs and the defendants, any two of whom could draw on the accoun