May 12, 2010
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
This Supreme Court of Ghana case concerns an African American woman who relocated to Ghana and developed a close relationship with Nana Kwesi Tandoh VII, a traditional ruler in Elmina, and his wife. Beginning in 1988, she lodged with them, fell in love with the 1st defendant, and, while contemplating marriage, financed and procured materials to complete a house at Ankaful. She occupied the first floor and substantially supported the household, brought her daughter to live with the defendants, and provided a commercial bus the 1st defendant ran, rendering accounts. After relations soured, the High Court declared title in the defendants, ordered eviction, and directed assessment of the plaintiff’s contributions. The Court of Appeal unanimously affirmed. On further appeal, the Supreme Court scrutinized testimonial and documentary evidence, including Exhibit G and a statutory declaration executed by the 2nd defendant, found the lower courts’ concurrent findings perverse, and admitted the declaration under Evidence Act section 25(1). Applying equitable and resulting trust principles, and noting Article 266’s bar on foreign freeholds, the Court set aside both judgments, awarded a 50/50 beneficial apportionment, ordered valuation and structured buyout, protected the plaintiff’s occupation, and directed conveyance of plots purchased through the 1st defendant.
INTRODUCTION
The parties in this case began their relationships on a good note as friends, presumably later as lovers and lately as bitter enemies, who are residing in the same house, albeit in different apartments.
When a similar set of facts emerged in the unreported Sekondi High Court case of suit No. TS 2/2000 intituled I.B. Clement – Plaintiff vrs Andrews Annietey – Defendant dated 4th June, 2003 I quoted the following passage from William Shakespeare’s Book, Julius Caesar Act IV, Scene 3, to depict the circumstances and this reads as follows:-
“There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which taken at the floods, leads on to fortune; omitted, all the voyage of their life, is bound in shallows, and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat; we must take the current when it serves or lose our ventures.”
FACTS:
Even though the facts of this case admit of no serious controversies, in view of the concurring findings of fact made by the trial High Court and the first appellate court, to wit the Court of Appeal, we will set out the facts in some detail in order to set the records straight.
The Plaintiff/Appellant/Appellant, hereafter referred to as the Plaintiff is an African American now resident in Ghana, Ankaful, near Cape Coast in H/No. AV.31/3 to be precise.
The Defendants/Respondents/Respondents hereafter referred to as Defendants, are husband and wife with the 1st Defendant being a Traditional Ruler in Elmina and both also reside in the same house as the Plaintiff.
The plaintiff visited Ghana in or about 1988, met the 1st defendant and they subsequently became friends with the latter introducing the Plaintiff to his wife the 2nd defendant. This friendship grew in leaps and bounds with the plaintiff accepting an invitation to lodge and reside with the defendants anytime she visited Ghana thereafter.
It must be noted that, the Defendants, were by then residing in rented premises and the Plaintiff had made it known to the defendants that she had planned to relocate to Ghana and make it her home.
Plaintiff thereafter resided with the Defendants anytime she visited Ghana and with the passage of time the Plaintiff and 1st defendant fell in love. According to the facts on record, the 1st defendant then proposed to marry the plaintiff at the Cape Coast Municipal Assembly.
Even though this marriage ceremony never took place, the relationship between the parties grew stronger with the 2nd defendant not showing any signs of rivalry and jealousy a