JANET AMOAKO v. FRANCIS AWUAH AND KWAME ABUNUBUNU

This is a land suit in which the Plaintiff is seeking a declaration of title, recovery of possession

and perpetual injunction against the Defendant in respect of a building plot of Sefwi Elluibo.

THE PLAINTIFF’S CASE

It is the case of the Plaintiff that her late father, Stephen Amoako, purchased the disputed

land in 2005 from the late Maame Agyanimah who was a member of her late father’s family

and obtained a permit for the land from the Juaboso District Assembly in the same year.

The Plaintiff said that her late father bequeathed the disputed land to her in his will and she

deposited sand on it and erected pillars on the land as well. She further said the Defendants

had placed a kiosk each on the land and had refused to remove the kiosks when they had

earlier promised to remove them, when she was ready to develop the land but had rather

removed two (2) of the pillars she erected on the land. But when the environmental officer

summoned the owner of the land for allowing weeds to overgrow on it, the 1st Defendant

said the land belonged to her and she responded to the summons so the disputed land

belonged to her and therefore the Court should enter judgment in her favor on her claim

against the Defendants.

THE DEFENDANTS’ CASE

The 1st Defendant gave evidence for both Defendants. According to the 1st Defendant, he

needed a place to sell credit cards and transfer credits so he informed his late father, Thomas

Awuah, the then Gyaasehene of Sefwi Elluibo. That his father took him to the then chief of

Elluibo, Nana Kwaku Mintah, and the chief after accepting a bottle of schnapps allocated the

disputed land to him. That later the chief asked him to let the 2nd Defendant place his lotto

kiosk on part of the land to operate a lotto business and he allowed the 2nd Defendant on the

land.

The 1st Defendant said he and the 2nd Defendant had been on the disputed land since 2008

and had not encountered any dispute over the land with anyone. But in July 2021, the

Plaintiff’s younger brother, Kojo Kaya, deposited sand on the disputed land and when he

enquired about it, Kojo Kaya told him that they would use the sand to mould blocks to

construct a concrete foundation and place the kiosk the Plaintiff’s father gave to her on it.

But the Plaintiff did not use the sand and weed grew on the sand and the environmental

officer summoned the Plaintiff over the overgrown weeds on the sand. The 1st Defendant

further said in December 2022, the Plaintiff as