ROYAL BENEFICIARIES' ASSOCIATION VS DELECTA AHWIRENG & KWAME K. ABOAGYE & YAA SERWAH
2018
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- JUSTICE K. A. GYIMAH
Areas of Law
- Contract Law
- Civil Procedure
- Evidence Law
2018
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The case involves a welfare association of cloth sellers suing a member, the 1st defendant, for defaulting on a loan they claim to have provided. The court found no binding agreement between the plaintiff and the defendant and noted the dishonor of cheques issued by the plaintiff. The court ruled against the plaintiff, stating the defendant had repaid more than any owed amount, dismissed the plaintiff's claims, and awarded costs to the defendant. The court highlighted the burden of proof in contract claims and the effect of dishonoured cheques.
This is a matter which has stayed in the court system for far too long and it is because of cases like this that sometimes people are bold to criticize the judiciary for delays in the delivery of justice.
The writ was issued as far back as February 2003, about 15 years ago.
It must be stated that most of the delays that occurred can be placed squarely at the doorsteps of the parties and their counsel.
Counsel for the plaintiff in his address rightly captures the chequered history of this case on page 2 in the following terms: “The trial of this case has had a very checkered history passing through the hands of at least four judges.
The plaintiff and its two witnesses gave evidence as far back as 2005 – between April and June.
After that there was a break of about 3 years … The defendants … opened their defence in February 2008. After only one sitting the 1st defendant never appeared in court to continue her evidence until 20th July 2017 – an interval of over nine years. ”When parties had duly filed their addresses and it was time for me to fix a date for judgment, it came to my notice that some of the exhibits were not in the exhibit file.
Neither the parties nor their counsel could help the court with copies of the exhibits as they could also not locate their copies.
I therefore directed the parties to file affidavits consenting to the delivery of judgment although the said exhibits could not be found as all the parties were agreed on the contents of the exhibits.
The parties duly filed the said affidavits but shortly before judgment was given, copies of exhibits 3 and 4 were located on the docket.
Plaintiff’s Case It is the plaintiff’s case that it is a welfare association comprised mainly of cloth sellers at Makola market.
The plaintiff contracts loans from commercial banks and gives individual loans to members of the association.
This is so because most of their members could not provide the security the commercial banks required before giving loans to individuals but as an association, they were able to provide the requisite securities to the banks so that their members could assess loans from the banks to boost their working capital.
It is the plaintiff’s case that they sign an agreement with each member with respect to the amount each of them required.
Such agreements are always guaranteed by two members of the association.
When the agreement is signed with a member, the plaintiff will issue cheques to each member and introduce them to