2011
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The Supreme Court of Ghana, per Brobbey JSC, unanimously dismissed an appeal arising from the enstoolment of Kwadwo Nyam Nketia as chief of the Wenchi Traditional Area shortly after a related petition was resolved on 6 June 2006. The court held that, under Article 277 of the 1992 Constitution and applicable customary law, nomination by the accredited queen mother is the indispensable first step in the chieftaincy process. Here, the Wenchi Queen Mother requested three weeks to consult, but the kingmakers pressed for immediate nomination and proceeded within roughly 24 hours without her, engaging Obaapanin Madam Abena Frema Atuahene, who lacked capacity to nominate. Without a valid nomination, all subsequent election, selection, enstoolment and installation were void. The court also confirmed courts may rely on appropriate sources to ascertain custom and noted the statutory 14-day notice safeguard for installations.
BROBBEY JSC:
S
This is the unanimous judgment of the court. The facts which gave rise to this litigation were as follows: Nana Abrefa Mbore Bediatuo VII was the paramount chief of Wenchi Traditional area. He died on July 7, 2004. After his death, a former chief of Wenchi, Nana Kusi Appea, filed a petition at the Brong Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs. The petition was against the Wenchi Queen mother and the Wenchi Traditional Council. The petition was mainly for a declaration that he was the sitting chief of Wenchi Traditional Area. The petition was filed in April 2005. It was finally determined in favour of the queen mother and the Traditional Council on the 6th of June 2006. A series of meetings followed the determination of the case on that day. The most relevant of the decisions taken at the meetings was that the king makers requested the queen mother to nominate a person to be considered as a chief for the Wenchi Traditional Area to replace the deceased chief.
The queen mother replied that she needed three weeks to make the nomination. The king makers who made the request to the queen mother were of the opinion that since the death of the last chief, the stool of Wenchi had been vacant for some time and needed to be occupied. They premised their demand on the facts that already two royals had expressed interest in the position of the chief and had made the necessary approaches to the queen mother to that effect. Further, the process of replacing the chief had started soon after the former chief died in 2004. It was not new to the contestants, the queen mother and the king makers. They therefore insisted that they could not wait for as long as three weeks demanded by the queen mother for a chief to be nominated. The queen mother on the other hand maintained that there were consultations to be made and other contestants had to be given the chance to put forward their interests and therefore she could not be hustled into making the nomination as immediately as the king makers demanded.
Following what appeared to be a stalemate, the king makers approached the queen mother three times for her to nominate a candidate to be considered as the chief of Wenchi. According to the king makers, she delayed unreasonably. They therefore approached Madam Abena Frema Atuahene who performed the customary tasks which would have been performed by the queen mother in respect of the nomination and installation of the chief. Eventually, Kwadwo Nyam Nketia, hereinafter refe