The Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, yesterday dismissed an appeal made by Nana Kow Mensah-King, the plaintiff in a long-standing chieftaincy dispute involving the Tumpa Anona Family, of which he is the head, and the Otuano Royal Stool Family of Winneba, on the grounds that it lacked merit.
An amount of GH¢10,000 was awarded against the Tumpa Anona Family, as requested by counsel for the Otuano Royal Stool family, represented by Opanyin Kweku Kyikyibi Gyan.
Delivering the judgment on behalf of the five justices who sat on the case, the Presiding Judge, Mrs Justice Sophia Adinyira, stated that “the appeal is without merit and is, therefore, dismissed”.
She thus affirmed an earlier judgment of the Court of Appeal, noting that what happened at the Court of Appeal was not a dress rehearsal.
“The issue is a matter affecting chieftaincy and answerable to the House of Chiefs,” she stated.
Other justices who sat on the case were Mr Justice Jones Dotse, Mr Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, Mr Justice N. S. Gbadegbe and Mr Justice Joseph Akamba.
The appeal by the Tumpa Anona Family was for the Supreme Court to overturn an earlier dismissal of an appeal at the Court of Appeal, for the reason that the original suit was a matter affecting chieftaincy and for which cause the Court of Appeal failed to hear the parties or their counsel on the issue, which the plaintiff described as a breach of the principles of natural justice.
The plaintiff argued that the Court of Appeal wrongly invoked and misapplied the principle that an appeal is by way of re-hearing in dismissing the appeal. Background
In June 2013, the Agona Swedru High Court dismissed an application brought by the Head of the Tumpa Anona Family of Winneba, Nana Mensah-King, to set aside judgement obtained by the Otuano Royal Stool Family from the Judicial Committee of the Central Regional House of Chiefs on June 30, 1977 as the sole traditional ‘set up’ that had the capacity and right to enstool and destool the paramount chief of Winneba.
The request by Nana Mensah-King was on the grounds that the Tumpa Anona Family was not heard on the case that went before the Judicial Committee.
However, the defendant, the Otuano Royal Stool Family, contested the position taken by the plaintiff and filed an application to have the action struck out or dismissed under Article 274 (2) of the 1992 Constitution and Section 28 of the Chieftaincy Act, 2008 (Act 759).
Among the reliefs sought was “an order to set aside the judgement of the Judicial Committee of the Central Regional House of Chiefs that purported to determine issues that directly affect the interest of the Ayirebi Acquahs and the Tumpa Anona Family of Winneba without giving the family a hearing”.
The court, presided over by Mr Justice Anthony K. Yeboah, ruled that since the Court of Appeal had confirmed the decision of the Judicial Committee of the Central Regional House of Chiefs, the High Court could not overturn the 1977 judgement. Application for dismissal
In an interview with the Daily Graphic after the hearing, counsel for the defendant, Mr Raphael Alijina, said, “I know by our law the High Court has no jurisdiction to hear chieftaincy matters. So on the basis of that, we applied to the High Court to dismiss the action and it was dismissed.”
He, however, said according to the High Court, the matter did not affect chieftaincy but was an abuse of processes because they kept too long and waited for over 30 years to request a setting aside, which informed the dismissal of the case.
Mr Alijina said the plaintiff took the matter to the Court of Appeal thereafter, saying the High Court should have heard the parties involved if it said it was an abuse of process.
However, the Court of Appeal also dismissed the case, saying it was a matter affecting chieftaincy and not against the process.
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