NII ASROY HANSEN I VS NII SAMPAH KOJO IX & 2ORS
October 3, 2022
CIRCUIT COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- H/H ADELAIDE ABUI KEDDEY
Areas of Law
- Alternative dispute resolution
- Civil Procedure
October 3, 2022
CIRCUIT COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
Presided by Circuit Court Judge H/H Adelaide Abui Keddey, the court granted an application to register and enforce a customary arbitration award under Ghana’s ADR Act (Act 798). Counsel for the applicant moved under Sections 110 and 111. The respondents each indicated agreement with the award, while noting they did not possess the key to the Ngleshie Alata Paramount Stool Room needed for purification. The arbitral panel’s 4 July 2022 findings established that the keys should, by custom, be held by the respondents—particularly the 1st Respondent, Nii Sampah Kojo IX—that the 2nd Respondent had given the keys to Nii Ayite Konko based on convenience near Jamestown, Accra, and that Konko refused to return them. The panel directed the respondents to retrieve the keys, purify the stool room in consultation with the Nai Wulomo, and supply requisite items. The court adopted these directives as the parties’ consent judgment.
CONSENT JUDGMENT
By Counsel for Applicant – Motion on notice for Registration and Enforcement of Customary Award pursuant to Sections 110 and 111 of ADR (Act 798) moved.
By Respondents
1st Respondent’s response – I am agreeable to the decision of the Arbitration Panel
2nd Respondent’s response – I am agreeable to the Customary Award.
3rd Respondent’s response – I am agreeable to the Customary Award by the panel
We do not have the key to the Stool Room to be able to perform the purification as contained in the Customary Award.
BY COURT
Having heard the submission of counsel for applicant and the response from all the Respondent’s the application is hereby granted.
Per the Panel Decision of the Customary Arbitration, the Panel made the following findings (4th July 2022);
The keys to the Stool Room should in accordance with custom and tradition be kept by the Respondents particularly the 1st Respondent, Nii Sampah Kojo IX.
The keys were given to Nii Ayite Konko by the 2nd Respondent in particular based on convenience and proximity of the former to the Stool Room at Jamestown, Accra.
In spite of Paragraph 1 and 2 above, the keys are in the custody of Nii Ayite Konko, who has refused to release same to the Respondents.
The complainant is entitled to the reliefs being sought.
Decision
In view of the above findings, the Panel decides as follows;
· Although well intentioned, the Respondent’s and particularly 2nd Respondent’s act of giving the keys to the Stool Room to a third party defies custom and tradition. As a result, Respondent should take urgent steps to perform necessary customary rites to purify the Stool Room of the Ngleshie Alata Paramount Stool.
· The Respondents, as Customary Custodians of the keys and managers of the Stool Room should as a matter of urgency, collect the keys to the Stool Room from Nii Ayite Konko in view of the fact that they (Respondents) have no mandate to release the keys to him.
· The purification of the Stool Room should be done in consultation with the “Nai Wulomo” after Respondents have provided the requisite items for purification to the “Nai Wulomo”.
BY COURT: The court hereby adopts the decision of the Panel as Consent Judgment of the parties herein (Under Section III of Act 798).
(SGD)
H/H ADELAIDE ABUI KEDDEY
CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE