NII AFLAH v. BENJAMIN KWAKU BOATENG

KULENDI JSC:-

INTRODUCTION.

By a unanimous decision of this Court on the 22nd day of March 2023, this appeal by the Defendant/Appellant/Appellant (hereinafter called the Appellant) against the judgment of the Court of Appeal dated 16th December 2021 failed in it’s entirety and was accordingly dismissed. In its place the judgement of the High Court, dated 24th July 2018 was thereby restored. We however reserved our reasons to be filed on a subsequent date, which we hereby deliver.

BACKGROUND:

The Plaintiff/Respondent/Respondent (hereinafter referred to as “the Respondent”) issued a Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim against the Appellant on 12th July, 2013 for the following reliefs:

a.Declaration of title to land lying or being at Odorkor at Teiko Adam near Tsum, Odorkor with an approximate area of 0.29 acre with a house thereon and more particularly described on Plaintiff’s title documents.

b.Perpetual injunction restraining the defendant herein, whether by himself, agents, assigns, representatives, hirelings or whosoever from entering into, trespassing or intermeddling with the said property.

In a fifteen (15) paragraph Statement of Claim, the Respondent described the land as a 0.29 acre land bounded on the North-West by a proposed road measuring 100 feet more or less, on the North-East by J. Welbeck's land measuring 130 feet more or less, on the South East by vendor's land measuring 100 feet, to the South West by A.M Allotey's land measuring 130 feet more or less and more particularly described in the Plaintiff's title documents and site plan.

According to the Respondent, the land in dispute was conveyed to him and his wife by a conveyance dated June 1989 by one Stella Aso Siaw who earlier acquired the land by a lease dated 10th January, 1979. The Respondent alleges that upon the acquisition of the land, he constructed a two-bedroom house on the land and resides there whenever he comes to Ghana. According to him, he also put in a tenant in the house who doubled as his caretaker and that the said house has been on the land for over 20 years prior to the institution of the action.

In June, 2013, the Appellant sued and obtained a judgment from the Kaneshie District Court against the Respondent’s tenant at a time when the tenant had travelled. The Appellant then proceeded to eject the Respondent’s tenant from the house. It was contended by the Respondent that the Appellant’s claim to the land is fraudulent and the particulars of the alleged frau