KWADWO MIREKU & ANOTHER v. YAW MIREKU

JUDGMENT

DENNIS D ADJEI JA

The Plaintiffs/Respondents/Appellants (hereinafter called the Plaintiffs) got locked up with the Defendant/Appellant/Respondent (hereinafter called the Defendant) at the Community Tribunal, Dunkwa-on-Offin in a dispute relating to ownership of a cocoa farm situate at a place commonly known as “WONAWU A WONTE” on Diaso stool land and some rooms in a house at Diaso. The Plaintiffs brought this action for themselves and on behalf of their brothers and sisters, that is, the children of the late Kwame Efa.

The Community Tribunal, Dunkwa-on-Offin gave judgment to the effect that the properties endorsed on the Plaintiffs writ of summons were the self acquired properties of the late father of the Plaintiffs who died intestate in 1984 and ordered his properties to be distributed in accordance with Intestate law prevailing in Ghana as at 1984. The Defendant who is a nephew and customary successor to the late Kwame Efa became aggrieved with the judgment of the Community Tribunal and therefore appealed to the High Court Cape Coast on 29th March 2006 for the reversal of the judgment. The High Court Cape Coast reversed the judgment of the Community Tribunal Dunkwa-on-Offin and entered judgment for the Defendant. On 13th April 2006 the Plaintiffs appealed against the judgment of the High Court Cape Coast to this court. The Plaintiffs case was that their late father in his lifetime gifted substantial part of his properties to his children and the remaining to his matrilineal family. The properties the Plaintiffs late father gifted to his children include the 7 acre cocoa farm at a place known as Wonawu a Wonte on Diaso stool land. The Plaintiffs took possession of the cocoa farm and at a point in time gave it to the Defendant to harvest and use the proceeds to repair their house. The Defendant did not repair the house and as a result of that the Plaintiffs recovered possession of same and gave the farm to a caretaker to manage it on their behalf.

According to the Plaintiffs the Defendant forcibly took over the farm from the caretaker and all efforts to settle the matter amicably failed. The Plaintiffs further stated that the Defendants fell some trees in the farm which caused damage to the cocoa farm. The Defendant’s case was that the land in dispute was gifted to his family by his late uncle Kwame Efa. The Plaintiffs father’s matrilineal family was in possession of the cocoa farm for 18 years before the death of Kwame Efa and it was not one