Enforcing Supreme Court judgment on over 70,000 acre lands in Accra will require further negotiations - Yaw Oppong

Enoch Darfah Frimpong Dec - 14 - 2023 , 12:14

Enforcing the Supreme Court judgment that clarified that the Numo Nmashie Family of Teshie cannot hold themselves as owners of 70 villages, which occupied over 72,000 acres of land in Greater Accra, will require further negotiations, the Director of the Ghana School of Law (GSL), Yaw Oppong has said.

The dispute on the 72,000 acres of land, occupied by 70 villages had traveled for over 40 years.

Commenting on the Supreme Court judgment in a radio interview on Thursday morning [Dec 14, 2023], Mr Yaw Oppong said: "It is communities [that are located in these areas] and that is what even makes it more serious."

"All the names mentioned are not names of bare lands, these are communities that have chieftaincy, they have heads of family, they have their own established..., other religious institutions are there. How are you going to in a way, now declare that, move your shrine, move your churches?

"So enforcing the judgment in this case will really call for further negotiations in my view," Mr Oppong said.

He spoke to Accra-based Citi FM in reaction to the Graphic Online story on the Supreme Court judgment.

Mr Oppong said: "in these matters you need to take the judgment and read it as a whole vis-a-vis other judgments.

He said Ashale Botwe for example which was mentioned in this case, is also known for a Supreme Court decision where Georgina Wood JSC gave the lead judgment where the Supreme Court said that anyone who was in possession of the land but was not sued, or anyone who obtained the land before the suit commenced, will not be affected by the terms of the judgment.

"We need to examine this judgment in its entirety... and situate it within the general provision of the established decisions of the Supreme Court itself, because, even though the Supreme Court can depart from such established principles of law, they have to give reasons why they are departing. So my understanding is that those same principles will apply to for example those who have been in possession of these lands long before the case commenced or those who have been on it without notice of the pendency of the suit, acquired the land from Numo Mashie Family and who have now been declared not to be owners."

The Supreme Court judgment

The Supreme Court has clarified that the Numo Nmashie Family of Teshie in the Greater Accra Region cannot hold themselves as owners of 70 villages, which occupied over 72,000 acres of land.

In its latest clarification, a five-member panel of the apex court presided over by the Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Torkornoo, affirmed that the Numo Nmashie Family of Teshie could not claim ownership of the land because a Court of Appeal’s decision in 1982 which declared them owners of the piece of land was based on fraudulent information presented to the court.

The court, therefore, directed the Lands Commission to expunge all registration and certificates issued to the Numo Nmashie Family of Teshie, and the Tetteh Olewolon Family, in respect of the 72,000 acres.

The court also directed that all third parties in possession and deriving title through the Numo Nmashie Family prior to the latest Supreme Court judgment were to attorn tenancy to the Boi Stool and relevant families.

Affected villages in Boi Stool v. Daniel Addo Quaye & Ors

The villages affected by the decision are Peduase, Obuom, Nsakye, Agyemanti, Brotrease, Danfa, Adoteiman, Otinibi, Malidzano, Okyrekomfo Kotei, Taboadidi, Ayim, Adenkrebi, Abefia, Ayimensa, Kweiman, Odonkorkurom and Kwadwokurom.

Others are Otiakurum, Otopram, Brekusu, Kponko, Dedekurom, Sesemi, Teiman, Papao, Ogbodzo, Adaman, Mpehuasem, Otinshi, Otanor, La- Bawaleshie, Tesa, Adjiringano, Okpoi Gonno, Manmormo, Oshiyie, Amanfro, Bobamase, Abokobi, Nyamekurom, Oyarifa and Ogoha.

The rest are Ajangote, Akpomang, Boi, Pantang, Sempene, Frafraha, Apenkwa, Abladdzei, Ankome, Ashonman, Agbogba, Adenta, Otuwa, Madina, Nkwantanang, Ashale-Botwe, Atwuo-Okuman, Martey Tsuru, Gbatsuma, Okpegon, Ablekuma, Odediben, Agbleshia, Alegon, Mangoase, Teshie and Kpeshie Ridge.

The clarification affirmed the Supreme Court’s judgment dated March 22, 2023, which had Justice Jones Victor Mawulorm Dotse, as the presiding judge.

Other members of the panel were Justices Issifu Omoro Tanko Amadu, Nene Abayateye Ofoe Amegatcher, Avril Lovelace-Johnson and Emmanuel Yonny Kulendi.

The judgment was delivered in favour of the Boi Stool and 13 others.

Land occupants in Madina, Adenta, Oyarefa, Teiman, Ayi Mensa and over 70 areas are not to be dispossessed

People who have bought lands from the Numo Nmashie Family in the 70 areas where the Supreme Court judgment affected are not to be dispossessed.

Such people, especially those who bought the lands from the Numo Nmashie Family of Teshie, are now to go into new agreements with the relevant authorities in those areas.

The lawyer who led the Boi Stool and 13 others to win the case, Prosper Nyahe, who explained the import of the Supreme Court judgment that declared that the Numo Nmashie Family of Teshie in the Greater Accra Region cannot hold themselves as owners of the over 72,000 acres of land, told Graphic Online's Justice Agbenorsi that new owners will now arrange a tenancy agreement with those currently occupying the land.

He said following the judgment, the Boi Stool, owners of 543 acres of the land that had been a subject of litigation for over 40 years, had written to the Lands Commission in a bid to execute the Supreme Court judgment which directed the Commission to expunge all registration and certificates issued to the Numo Nmashie Family of Teshie in respect of the 72,000 acres.