KUMA AND ANOTHER v. KOI-LARBI

JUDGMENT OF AIKINS J.S.C.

Aikin J.S.C. delivered the judgment of the court. In March 1980 the plaintiff-respondent who in this case claims that he is a member of the Akwapim Union (a friendly society) obtained two pieces of land by way of assignment, the first from the Akwapim Union represented by its president, Mr Philip Kwabi Arthur-Baidoo on 9 March 1980 and stamped as AC 321/80, and the second from Mr Philip Kwabi Arthur-Baidoo on 27 March 1980 and stamped as AC 2336/80. Both pieces of land, the subject matter of the plaintiffs claim against the defendant, form part of a piece of land belonging to the Nii Odoi Quao family of Christiansborg and Accra and which land the family leased to the Akwapim Union for a period of 99 years for residential purposes. The deed of conveyance was dated 9 May 1940 and among the signatories for the family was Edmund Laud Nikoi O'Lai Kotey, described as a principal member of the family, and for the union, [p.540] Philip Kwabi Arthur-Baidoo described as president. It was agreed that the land should be divided into 120 plots of 60 feet by 100 feet to provide living accommodation for 120 members of the union. For the 120 plots the rent was to be £36 (thirty-six pounds) or six shillings for each plot. This agreement was registered in the Lands Registry as No. 515/1950.

About five years later, to be precise on 20 December 1945, a supplementary agreement to that of 1940 was entered into by the parties to replace a portion of the land which had been taken over by the government for public purposes. This lease was registered as No 1066/1945 at the Lands Registry. By a lease registered at the Lands Registry as No 986/68, the Akwapim Union demised a portion of its land to Philip Kwabi Arthur-Baidoo. It is this lease that the said Arthur-Baidoo assigned to the plaintiff on 27 March 1980.

During the early 1950s the family claimed that the land had become forfeited through the failure of the members to obtain individual grants from them as stipulated in clause 2(a) of the 1940 lease. That clause stipulates:

“(a) That they the members of the Akwapim Union (lessees) may during the continuance of the term hereby granted obtain individually Indenture of lease from the superior Landlord (Nii Odoi Kwao Family) within one year from the first day of January, 1940 and will also pay to the Lessor the said yearly rent of six shillings herein before reserved on the said first day of January, 1941 failing to obtain such lease within one year