2023
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
This Ghana Supreme Court appeal pits members of the Ekuona Family of Ntonso against the children of the late Akwasi Okyere over two Kumasi houses (KO.60 and 019 Block 8) and a cocoa farm at Abrewapomaah. The Appellants alleged the assets were family properties acquired through their maternal line and could not be validly devised under Okyere’s 1995 will. The Respondents argued the properties were self-acquired by Okyere, evidenced by leases and tax payments in his name; they also relied on a statutory declaration by Kwaku Mensah acknowledging Okyere’s ownership. After the High Court dismissed the Appellants’ claims and the Court of Appeal affirmed, the Supreme Court reviewed standards for family property, cautioned against untested claims involving deceased persons, and preferred documentary evidence over inconsistent oral testimony. It held that the statutory declaration did not create ownership and, being unstamped, was inadmissible; reversed the lower courts’ jurat reasoning; but ultimately found the Appellants failed to prove family ownership. The appeal was dismissed.
AMADU JSC:-
INTRODUCTION:
(1)The parties to this appeal are all members of the Ekuona Family of Ntonso, Ashanti. The dispute between them pertains to the ownership of three properties-House No.KO.60, Ashanti New Town, Kumasi; House No.019, Block 8, Ashanti New Town, Kumasi and a Cocoa Farm at Abrewapomaah.
(2)While the Appellants claim that the aforementioned properties are family properties belonging to the Ekuona Family of Ntonso, the Respondents contend that, the properties are the personally acquired properties of their deceased father, Akwasi Okyere.
(3)Fortified by their claims, the Appellants contend that, being family properties, the Respondents’ deceased father could not have devised same under his last will and testament dated 30th January, 1995. Conversely, the Respondents maintain that, their late father had the right to devise the properties which were personally acquired and owned by him.
(4)This appeal therefore emanates from the judgment of the Court of Appeal Kumasi, dated the 3rd of July, 2020, which affirmed the judgment of the High Court, Kumasi, dated the 17th of November, 2016. The decisions of the two lower courts pronounced the properties, the subject matters in dispute as the personally acquired properties of Akwasi Okyere (deceased) and not the family properties of the Ekuona Family of Ntonsu, Ashanti.
(5)Undoubtedly therefore, the key issue for in our determination of this appeal is whether the properties in dispute are family properties of the Ekuona Family of Ntonso, Ashanti, or the personal properties of the late Akwasi Okyere at the time of his death.
(6)In deciding this appeal, we are mindful of our duty to undertake a thorough examination of the entire record of appeal in order to determine whether the two lower courts properly evaluated the evidence adduced at the trial and had correctly applied the relevant law. This duty is particularly enabling, when the Appellants have grounded the appeal on the omnibus ground of appeal that the judgment of the Trial Court which was affirmed by the Court of Appeal is against the weight of evidence.
BACKGROUND
(7)On the 13th of December 2012, the Appellants caused to be issued out of the Registry of the High Court Kumasi, a writ of summons accompanied by a statement of claim for the following reliefs :
(a)A declaration that House Nos. K.O.60, Ashanti New
Town, Kumasi, O.I. Plot 9 Block 8 Ashanti New Town Kumasi and the Cocoa Farm at Abrewapomaah Akura sharing boundaries with