2024
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
This Ghana Court of Appeal decision arises from a land ownership dispute between Mr. Ofori Darko and Papa Yaw over a parcel at Afienya Wusah Korpe. Mr. Darko relied on a 2011 lease from Nathaniel Narh Wusah, a Lands Commission search showing no recorded transactions, and a 2014 building permit, claiming acts of possession. Papa Yaw traced his title to the Hiowe Gblaka Makpimnya Family of Shai and pointed to a prior High Court judgment and a consent judgment evidencing ownership by Rahma Properties over the broader tract. Applying the appellate standard for the omnibus ground, the Court held the Appellant failed to prove root of title, noted the lease lacked recitals and no Wusah family testimony, credited the court-appointed surveyor and consent judgment, rejected reliance on the Jackson report raised for the first time on appeal, and affirmed the High Court. The appeal was dismissed with costs.
Ackaah Boafo, JA
i. Overview:
[1] To some, this is a small matter not worthy of litigation, but to Mr. OforiDarko, the Plaintiff/Appellant who lives in Oman in the Middle East, it is very important. This matter began as a dispute at the High Court, Tema over the ownership of land said to be situated and 'lying and being at Afienya Wusah Korpe' . It has now come to this court as an appeal from the dismissal of the action by the High Court. The primary question for resolution on this appeal is whether the learned trial judge erred in dismissing the suit and as contended by the Appellant, whether the judgment is against the weight of evidence.
[2] It is noted that the Writ of Summons which has resulted in this appeal was filed on September 11, 2014 with the following reliefs;
A. Declaration of title to all that piece of land situate, lying and being at Afienya WusahKorpe and more particularly described at paragraph 3 of the statement of claim.
B. Recovery of Possession.
C. Damages for Trespass.
D. Perpetual Injunction to restrain the Defendant, his assigns, workmen, servants and anybody claiming through the Defendant from developing/constructing or having anything to do with the land the subject matter of dispute pending the final determination of this suit.
The court below after the trial, dismissed all of the claims and awarded costs against the Plaintiff in favour of the Defendant.
[3] Dissatisfied with the judgment dated and delivered on 6th July, 2021, the Plaintiff/Appellant has launched this appeal. As noted above the main issue in this appeal is whether or not the decision of the learned trial Judge is justifiable, based on the facts
and the law. The relief sought from this court is an order to set aside the judgment of the trial judge. In this judgment, the designation of the parties as Plaintiff and Defendant shall be maintained and where appropriate referred to as Appellant and Respondent. Before dealing with the arguments advanced in support and against the appeal, I will give a brief background of the case.
ii. Background :
[4] The Appellant averred that by a lease agreement dated May 24, 2011 he acquired the subject matter land for 99 years from one Nathaniel Narh Wusah, the Head of the Wusah family of Afienya with the consent and concurrence of the principal members of the family. According to the Plaintiff, he conducted a search at the Registry of the Lands Commission, Accra and the search result indicated that the land was