GH - WILLIAM APIETU AMPOFO v. SAMUEL ANKRAH and Others

PWAMANG JSC:

My Lords, the parties to this appeal were great friends for several years

before differences between them led to this litigation. The

Plaintiff/respondent/appellant (the plaintiff) got to know the 1st defendant/

appellant/respondent (the 1st defendant) in 1987 at which time the 1st

defendant was married to the plaintiff’s cousin and living in the house of

the plaintiff’s mother known as H/No C140/20, Abelenkpe, Accra. The

house contained three separate units. The main house was rented out by

the plaintiff’s mother to one Nicholas Kwablah Afedi who used it as

Santana Hotel Annex while she lived in one of the units. The 1st defendant

and his wife lived in the third unit, a one-bedroom self contained. The

plaintiff was the only child of his elderly mother but he was resident in the

United States of America so it was the 1st defendant and his wife who

supported his mother. The plaintiff visited Ghana regularly and used to

lived in his mother house and it was during those visits that he met and

became free with the 1st defendant. In 1992 the plaintiff’s mother died

and he came to Ghana for the funeral. Thereafter, the 1st defendant

continued to live in the house even after his wife vacated the house as a

result of some marital disagreements.

When the plaintiff inherited the house after the death of his mother, he

initially left it to some family relations of his as caretakers since he was

not resident in Ghana. However, he became dissatisfied with the

stewardship of his various family relations so he handed the house over to

the 1st defendant to manage on his behalf. As part of his duties, the 1st

defendant, with the approval of the plaintiff, renovated where the

plaintiff’s mother used to live and rented it out. Out of the rent the 1st

defendant recovered his expenses and paid the balance to the plaintiff.

After this renovation the parties cooperated on the construction of a

house the plaintiff started at Kibi. The plaintiff gave money to the 1st

defendant for him to oversee the construction for him. Over time the

cordial relationship between the plaintiff and the 1st defendant grew very

strong and they related to each other like blood brothers. The plaintiff

facilitated a visit to the United States by the 1st defendant and his new

wife and they lived in the house of the plaintiff on their first visit.

In this state of affairs, there were a number of money transactions

between the parties involving the management