Supreme Court dismisses La Traditional Stool case against Lakeside

An appeal by the La Traditional Stool that sought to claim possession of 49,420.53 acres of land which had been acquired by Agric Cattle and Lakeside Estate Limited has been dismissed by the Supreme Court of Ghana.

The Supreme Court, presided over by Jones Dotse, dismissed the case on grounds that the original suit at the high court which was initiated by the La Traditional Council is void as the council has no capacity to take legal actions against the defendants.

The La Stool was seeking possession of the land after an Accra High Court declared Agric Cattle and Lakeside Estate as the rightful owners of the land.

Background

On May 16, 2008, the La Traditional Council filed a suit at the Accra High Court claiming possession of the 49,420.53 acres of land which had been acquired by Agric Cattle and Lakeside Estate Limited.

In January 2009, lawyers for the plaintiff amended the writ and replaced La Traditional Council with the La Divisional Council after the court declared their petition nullified with reason that they were not the rightful owners of the land.

The writ went through several amendments and at the end, the plaintiffs had become Nii Obodai IV, La Mankralo, on behalf of the La Stool, SFA Limited and Fodas Estates Limited.

The defendants were Agric Cattle, Santeo Mantse (Atta Quarshie), Kantamanso Mantse (Nii Otoo Laryea), Nungua Mantse (Nii Odaifio Welentsi II) and Lakeside Estate Limited.

Decisions

In its judgement, the High Court declared 2,911.53 acres of the disputed land as the rightful possession of the defendants and the remaining 46,509 acres as the rightful possession of the La Stool.

Dissatisfied, the defendants filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal.

On March 28, 2018, the Court of Appeal upheld the appeal and reversed the decision of the High Court, declaring the whole land for the defendants.

It was that appeal that was also appealed at the Supreme Court by the La Stool and the other plaintiffs