2021
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The Court of Appeal of Ghana, per Justice Lawrence L. Mensah JA, reviewed a land dispute involving a parcel at Pig Farm/Maamobi. The Plaintiff claimed purchase in 1983 from Nii Akwei Saka II and sought declaration, possession, damages, and injunction after the 1st Defendant occupied via a caretaker. The 2nd Defendant asserted her mother, Rebecca Marku Norteye, bought the land in 1957 from Nii Adokwei Saka II, commenced building before dying in 1975, and her family later obtained Land Certificate GA 15105 in 1989. On appeal, the Plaintiff attacked the certificate as fraudulent and the judgment as against the weight of evidence. The Court held fraud was neither pleaded nor proved, section 122 of PNDC Law 152 was inapplicable, official acts are presumed regular, and beneficiaries under PNDC Law 111 had capacity to litigate intestate property. Finding strong evidence of the 2nd Defendant’s possession and title history, the Court dismissed the appeal and affirmed the Circuit Court’s judgment.
LAWRENCE L. MENSAH JA:
This is an appeal by the Plaintiff/Appellant who will be referred to as the Plaintiff against the judgment of the Circuit Court Accra, dated the 13th day of September, 2010 in favour of the Defendants/Respondents who will be referred to as the Defendants.
The subject-matter of this appeal is in respect or a piece of parcel of land situate and being at Pig Farm or Maamobi, Accra, as the parties variously called the location of the disputed land.
Case of Plaintiff:
The case of the plaintiff in relation to the disputed land is, that in July 1983, he acquired a piece of land with a three bedroom uncompleted house to window level on it in the sum of Five Thousand (¢5000.00). He purchased same from Nii Akwei Saka II the Chief of Mamobi and Pig Farm. He had the land registered in the Land Registry as No. 2101/83. After purchase of the land he travelled out of the country to Cameroon in 1984 but left the land in the hands of his brother. In 1999 his brother reported to him that the 1st Defendant had trespassed onto the land, and so he returned home to confront the 1st Defendant.
When the 1st Defendant insisted that the disputed land did not belong to the Plaintiff, the Plaintiff instituted action in the Registry of the Circuit Court and claimed the following reliefs from 1st Defendant who was later joined to the action by 2nd Defendant:
a) Declaration of title
b) Recovery of possession
c) Damages for trespass
d) Perpetual injunction restraining the Defendant, his agents, servants, assigns from having anything to do on the land whatsoever.
Case of 1st Defendant;
The 1st Defendant’s defence is that the disputed property belonged to the family of the 2nd Defendant who gave the land to a caretaker to operate a fitting shop on the said land. 1st Defendant said he was given the land in about 1996-1997 by the caretaker who is one Gabriel Mensah alias “Old man”, to operate his fitting shop. He later met the 2nd Defendant and her sister when one day the plaintiff confronted him and asked him who placed him on the land and he mentioned Gabriel Mensah. It was there the plaintiff told him that the disputed land belonged to him plaintiff and that he the 1st Defendant must vacate the land. The 1st Defendant said he vacated the land because the Plaintiff had threatened his life with juju.
Case of 2nd Defendant:
For her part, the 2nd Defendant said she was the daughter of the late Rebecca Marku Norteye and head of the family to which her mother