NII STEPHEN MALEY NAI v. EAST DADEKOTOPON DEVELOPMENT TRUST

JUDGEMENT

KOTEY, JSC:-

This appeal brings into sharp focus the problems and challenges of land ownership and management as land values soar on the back of urbanization and land use change as what was previously farming land becomes very valuable, prime, residential land.

The land in dispute is situate at La (behind the Trade Fair). Over the years citizens and families of La have farmed and/or settled on the land. With time, population growth, migration and urbanization, the demand for the land exploded exponentially and so did the price. An avalanche of litigation was soon unleashed in respect of these lands. In all these cases, the primary issues have been who is the proper authority to make valid grants of land behind the Trade Fair. Is it the family that has farmed and/ or settled on the land, a quarter (a quarter to which a family belongs) or the La Paramount Stool?

Prominent and relevant among these cases, for the determination of this appeal are;

i. Suit No. L353/97

Nii Kpobi Tettey Tsuru III (La Mantse) v Ato Quarshie & Ors (HC, 12th July 2001 unreported)

ii. Suit No. BL 238/2008

Nii Manley Osokrono IV v Attorney General and Lands Commission (HC,7th December 2010, unreported)

iii. Suit No. IRL/133/2009

Nii Manley Osokrono IV v East Dadekotopon Development Trust (HC, 22nd June 2011, unreported)

In Nii Kpobi Tettey Tsuru III v Ato Quarshie & Ors (supra), the La Mantse sued claiming title to a large tract of land behind the Trade Fair which includes the land in this dispute. Two La Quarters, Lenshie and Nmati-Abonase challenged the La Stool’s claim and joined the suit as co-defendants. (There are seven quarters in La. A quarter is a division of La, headed by a divisional Chief. It is made up of several houses (‘We’’) and families who settled at a section of La at about the same time, usually under one leader.) The two quarters contended that the land in dispute, being outskirt land, they, not the La Stool, were the owners of the land and the proper authority to make grants of the land. The suit ended in a consent judgment.

Pursuant to the consent judgment in suit No. L353/97(supra) the East Dadekotopon Development Trust (defendant-trust) was established by the La Stool, Lenshie quarter and Nmati-Abonase quarter in 2002 to hold and manage a large tract behind the Trade Fair, La. In 2003 the defendant-trust obtained a Land Title Certificate in respect of 874.434 hectares (2154.7871 acres). The land, the subject matter of this appeal which is