June 26, 2025
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
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This is an Appeal from the judgment of the High Court, Kumasi dated the 19th day of June, 2023, in which the learned trial judge declared the Plaintiff/Respondent and her siblings as owners of Plot No. 18 Block A, Adadientem by virtue of customary inheritance. In this judgment, the parties will maintain their original designation.
The Plaintiff/Respondent will be referred to as (Plaintiff) and the Defendants/Appellants as (Defendants).
The Plaintiff’s late father Benjamin Ablometi died intestate on 15th April, 2003 and was survived by a wife, Alice Vuore, and three (3) children including the Plaintiff. The surviving spouse and paternal uncle of the Plaintiff, Emmanuel Ablometi, applied for and were granted Letters of Administration by the High Court on 4th March, 2024 to enable them to administer the estate of their deceased father. By a Vesting Assent dated 17th December, 2014, the property in dispute and another property known as H/No. C 23 located at a place known as Israel – Lomnava in the Greater Accra Region forming part of the estate were vested in the Plaintiff and her siblings by the Administrators.
The Plaintiff’s father acquired the property in dispute, Plot No. 18 Block A, Adadientem, Ashanti from the former Odikro of Adadientem who died in 1995. He was given an Allocation Note and a Site Plan after which he went into possession and started the construction of a 5-bedroom house on the land, but could not continue beyond the foundation level before he died.
In June 2014, the maternal uncle of the Plaintiff called Alex Vuore who is resident in Kumasi discovered that, the 2nd Defendant had trespassed onto the land and destroyed the foundation constructed by Plaintiff’s deceased father and had started preparations to construct his own house on the land.
The Plaintiff therefore acting by herself and on behalf of her two other siblings, caused a Writ of Summons to be issued against the Defendants claiming for the following reliefs:
(a) A declaration that, the Plaintiff and her siblings are now the owners of Plot
Number 18 Block A, Adadientem, Ashanti;
(b) Recovery of Possession of Plot No. 18 Block A, Adadientem, Ashanti;
(c) Damages for the destruction of the foundation of the 5-bedroom house erected by deceased Benjamin Ablometi;
(d) Damages for Trespass;
(e) *Perpetual injunction restraining the Defendants whether by themselves, their workmen, a
AI Generated Summary
This Ghana Court of Appeal decision concerns an appeal by the current Odikro of Adadientem (1st Defendant) and an allottee (2nd Defendant) against a High Court judgment awarding ownership of Plot No. 18, Block A, Adadientem to the children of the late Benjamin Ablometi. Ablometi, who died intestate in 2003, had validly acquired the plot from then Odikro Nana Omane Ababio in 1995, entered possession, and built a foundation for a five-bedroom house. After public notices and checks, the 1st Defendant reallocated the same land to the 2nd Defendant, who later destroyed Ablometi’s foundation and began construction, claiming bona fide purchaser status. On appeal, the Defendants challenged the Plaintiff’s capacity and argued the trial judge misapplied Section 4 of Act 63 and substituted an unpleaded case. The Court of Appeal held that under PNDCL 111 Section 4(1)(a), the children had an immediate legal interest and capacity to sue, the non-inclusion of the plot in the asset declaration did not divest the estate’s interest, the regrant violated nemo dat, and the 2nd Defendant failed to prove bona fide purchase. The appeal was dismissed and costs awarded.