NANA NGOA ANYIMAA KODOM II v. LYDIA ANANE & ANOTHER

MARFUL-SAU, JA :-

This is an appeal from the judgment of the High Court sitting at Sefwi- Wiawso dated the 3rd of December 2009 which dismissed the action by the plaintiff herein referred to as the appellant. The brief facts of the case are that the defendants to be referred to as respondents applied for the grant of Letters of Administration of the estate of their deceased father Nana Kofi Ngoa III, also known as Nana Kofi Anane. In the application the respondents listed two cocoa farms all situate at Dominibo No. 1 and an unnumbered building on a plot of land at Bibiani as personal properties of their deceased father. The appellant challenged the inclusion of the said properties in the inventory filed in support of the application for the Letters of Administration.

Consequently, the appellant caused a writ to be issued against the respondents claiming that the two cocoa farms and the unnumbered building were properties belonging to the Aduana family of Kyekyewere or Adenkye. At the end of the trial the court found that the properties were self acquired by respondents late father Nana Kofi Ngoa III, who was the Chief of Bibiani and the Krontihene of the Sefwi – Anhwiaso Traditional Area. From the record in March 1992, the government withdrew the recognition of some chiefs including respondents’ deceased father and he was succeeded by the appellant as the Chief of Bibiani and the Krontihene of the Sefwi –Anhwiaso Traditional Area.

The appellant dissatisfied with the judgment has appealed to this court urging the court to reverse the judgment in his favour. The original Notice of Appeal had one ground to wit that the judgment was against the weight of evidence. By the leave of this court the appellant filed and argued additional grounds namely:-

a) The trial court erred when it held that plaintiff lacked capacity to institute the action.

b) The court erred when it held that the disputed cocoa farms were the self acquired properties of the deceased Nana Kofi Ngoa III alias Nana Kofi Anane.

c) The trial court erred when it failed to find that the farms in dispute are family properties of the plaintiff/ appellant.

d) The trial court erred when it held that the unnumbered building in dispute is the self acquired property of Nana Kofi Ngoa III, alias Nana Kofi Anane.

e) The trial court erred when it failed to find that the unnumbered building in dispute is the property of the plaintiff/appellant.

The above grounds from their formulation could be reduced