NII AYIKU YARNIE III vs JOSEPH MENSAH & ANOTHER

In the High Court, presided over by Justice Amos Wuntah Wuni, the Plaintiff sought declaration of title, possession, and an injunction over 529.228 acres at Amanfro. The Defendants entered appearance, defended, counterclaimed, and moved to strike out the writ for lack of capacity while an interlocutory injunction was pending. The substituted Plaintiff claimed to sue as the Head and Lawful Representative of Amanfro; Defendants and the Amanfro Traditional Council disputed this. The Plaintiff raised a preliminary objection asserting that Defendants counsel, Lawyer Yakubu Dubik Mahama, as Head of the Northern Regional Lands Commission, was barred by L.I. 2423 from private practice. The court rejected the objection, reasoning that a board chair is not staff of the Lands Commission and Rule 23(6) was misread. Applying authorities (including NAOS Holdings and Asante-Appiah), the court found the Plaintiff failed to adduce evidence of capacity, struck out the writ for want of capacity, noted the chieftaincy character of the dispute and the High Courts lack of jurisdiction over such matters, and awarded GH2,000 costs against the Plaintiff.