MRS SUSAN BARTELS v. INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL GOSPEL CHURCH
2021
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
- BARBARA ACKAH-YENSU (MS) J.A (PRESIDING)
- MERLEY A. WOOD J.A (MRS)
- OBENG-MANU JNR J.A
Areas of Law
- Civil Procedure
- Property and Real Estate Law
2021
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
This interlocutory appeal arises from the High Court (Land Division, Accra)s refusal to grant the 4th Defendant leave to further amend her Statement of Defence and Counterclaim in an ongoing land dispute near the Korle Lagoon. The Plaintiff, a religious organization, claims a 50-year government lease over Plot 13A and alleges trespass; the 4th Defendant traces title to her great grandmother, Madam Alice Djan, asserting exclusion from the government acquisition by a 1951 letter. The proposed amendments sought to add estoppel and a first option to acquire theory contingent on alternative interpretations of the acquisition. The Court of Appeal reviewed the permissibility of amendments under CI 47, found the new paragraphs contradicted paragraph 12 and would set up an entirely new case, and, applying deference to trial-level discretion, dismissed the appeal and affirmed refusal of leave.
JUDGMENT
MERLEY A. WOOD, J.A
In this interlocutory appeal against the ruling of the High Court, Land Division, Accra, delivered on 10th January, 2019, the 4th Defendant/Appellant seeks the setting aside of the aforesaid ruling.
The matters that have given rise to the interlocutory appeal are as follows:
The Plaintiff/Respondent (hereafter referred to as the Plaintiff or alternately as the Respondent) on 18th July 1996 sued out a Writ of Summons and a Statement of Claim against three Defendants namely Emmanuel Amewowoh, Frank Folly and Anthony Agbenu for a declaration that the Plaintiff is the bona fide lessee of the Government of Ghana in respect of the land in dispute among other reliefs. The 4th Defendant/Appellant applied to join the suit as a defendant and same was granted joining her as Co-Defendant on 20th January 1997. The Plaintiff applied to join the Lands Commission as 2nd Co-Defendant and same was granted on 20th June 2011.
The Plaintiff per an Amended Writ of Summons and Amended Statement of Claim filed on 25th June 2018 found from pages 113 to 117 of the Record of Appeal avers that it is a religious organization while it described the 1st to 4th Defendants as trespassers on its land and the 5th Defendant as a Statutory body set up to manage public lands and any other lands vested in the President by the Constitution or by any other law and any lands vested in the Commission. It avers that by a leasehold agreement dated 17th March 1992 made between the President of the Republic of Ghana acting by the Chairman of the Lands Commission of the one part and the Plaintiff herein of the other part, the subject matter of the suit was leased to the Plaintiff for 50 years at a yearly rent of ȼ120,000 (GHȼ12.00) p/a and the said agreement registered as No. 847/1996.
The Plaintiff avers that he has been granted a Right of Entry and assumed effective occupation of the land and has started construction works thereon. It says the 1st to 4th Defendants have entered a portion of the land and are carrying on business activities thereon and that their presence on the land constitutes a breach of one of the covenants of the leasehold agreement as the land was leased to it for religious and educational purposes only. Furthermore, the 1st to 4th Defendants have ignored calls on them both orally and in writing to abate their nuisance and to vacate the land. The said land is described as All that piece of land known as Plot No. 13A and containing an approximate