NII ASHITEY SAASABI II VS BASHIRU IBRAHIM AGORO & ORS
2024
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
- SENYO DZAMEFE, JA (PRESIDING)
- ERIC KYEI BAFFOUR, JA
- JENNIFER DADZIE, JA
Areas of Law
- Civil Procedure
- Property and Real Estate Law
2024
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The plaintiff, chief of Saasabi village, sued the defendants for trespassing on Saasabi lands and clearing large portions in August 2018, asserting title from the chief of Obosomase. The trial court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, declaring Saasabi's ownership and instructed the Lands Commission to cancel the defendants' name on the plots. Defendants' appeal on grounds of judgment against weight of evidence, erroneous representative capacity, and statute-barred claims was dismissed by the appellate court. The appellate court upheld the trial court's findings and judgment, confirming that the plaintiff had capacity to sue and the land is indeed Saasabi Stool land.
DZAMEFE, JA
This appeal emanates from the judgment of the High Court Land Division Accra dated 14th October, 2022.
The brief facts of this appeal are that the plaintiff, the chief of Saasabi village under the Tema Traditional Council and the lawful Head of the Saasabi family in his statement of claim alleged that the defendants with the assistance of armed policeman entered Saasabi lands near Oyibi in the Kpone Katamanso Municipality and cleared a large portion of same. Thereafter they erected a sign post on the land claiming that they got same from the chief of Obosomase. It is his case that the land in issue does not belong to the people of Obosomase in the Eastern Region of Ghana and therefore have no right to enter the said land and to give same out to the defendants.
The plaintiff gave the boundaries of the land in dispute, drawn by the colonial government in 1904 upon the request of the Ga Chiefs between Nungua and Tema, because of the frequent boundary disputes between the people of Tema, of which Saasabi formed part, and the people of Nungua. The plaintiff averred further that the “Gold Coast Survey Pillars made in 1928 by J. Jackson also show the position of Saasabi lands to the North of Adigon and a baobab tree known as Shajo konsonkonson where Adenkesu lands meet, Kpone/Appolonia lands, Saasabi and Adigon lands.
Plaintiff said the Sasabi lands cover an area of 2147.15 acres or 874.75 Hectares. It also the plaintiff’s case that the land in issue was acquired by their great great grandfathers through hunting, farming and settlement and have been in undisputed occupation for several generations now. He said Saasabi people once took the people of Moi We Clan of Oyibi to court in respect of 491 acres of this same land when they trespassed onto it claiming its theirs and the Moi We Clan of Nungua joined as parties’ to the suit. The court, he said gave them judgment against the Moi We Clan of Oyibi and Nungua in Suit No. AL32/2006 titled, NII ASHITEY SAASABI II vrs DANIEL OKOFIO AKWEI & ORS DATED 29TH JULY 2011. A similar suit was brought by the Sasabi chief against the Paramount Chief of Kpone/Apollonia when the later caused a statutory Declaration to be made covering parts of their land in Suit No. FAL/318/14 entitled NII ASHITEY SAASABI II vrs NII NUERTEY AMORI II, APOLONIA MANCHE & 9 ORS.
The plaintiff aver further that in July 1970, the Regional Survey Department of the Greater Accra Region has done a survey work on Tema lands and have drawn