KWAA ARKU-KORSAH v. KWEKU MENSAH & ORS

1] The Plaintiff in this case is a Ghanaian farmer resident in Accra who was at the time of commencement of this suit, the Executive Secretary of the now defunct Fiaseman Cooperative Pineapple Growers Association (hereafter referred to as the Association). The 1st Defendant was also an active member of the Association and is the donee of a Power of Attorney granted him by the Defendants to defend this suit.

2] The Plaintiff’s case is that sometime in 1997, a mining concession was offered to Abosso Goldfields Limited, (hereafter referred to as the Company), which affected the farming activities of farmers in the Damang Kyekyewere Community. Unfortunately, the Company was unwilling to pay just compensation to the farmers.

3] Consequently, the Plaintiff claims he and another member of the Association were delegated to intervene in the dispute between the farmers and the Company. As a result of the negotiations, the Company presented two options to the farmers; namely relocation or resettlement. Resettlement involved the Company paying the value of the crops and buildings of the affected farmers in addition to transportation to enable them relocate to a different place, whereas relocation involved the Company building a new township for settlement by the affected farmers.

4] The Company paid building compensation and transportation allowance to the farmers who chose the relocation option but failed to pay them compensation for their crops. After several attempts made by the Plaintiff to get the Company to fulfill its obligation to compensate the relocated farmers for their crops failed, legal action became the last resort.

5] It is the Plaintiff’s case that when it became evident that the affected farmers could not provide financing for the legal action against the Company, the Association petitioned him to initiate the legal action against the Company with the promise that the affected farmers would work to maintain the legal action while taking care of his farm.

6] The Plaintiff claims that as a result of the agreement he had with the Association, he relocated to Accra and began to solicit funds to initiate the legal action. According to the Plaintiff, as soon as the case was filed, most of the affected farmers reneged on their promise to maintain the legal action from the proceeds of their work and to take care of his farm. As a result, he threatened to abandon the case. However, the representatives of the affected farmers p