Unpublished Article (Ga Mantse Dispute)

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday, January 31, 2007
An Accra High Court will on February 14, decide on whether or not the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs at Dodowa has the jurisdiction to hear four petitions filed before the house against the purported enstoolment of Dr. Jo Blankson in July as the Ga Mantse.

This follows the completion of arguments between counsel for Dr. Blankson and Nii Akropong Head of Nii Teiko Tsuru Royal family who initiated the legal action against the Regional House of Chiefs and made the four petitioners as interested parties.

The four petitioners who are the interested parties in the action are Dr. Ebenezer Nii Armah Tackie, a former lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, and three others; Winston Nii Teiko Tackie and two others; Nii Agyemankese IV and two others; as well as Nii Owula Kpakpa Blofonyo.


Dr. Blankson and Nii Akropong filed the application before the High Court presided over by Justice Kofi Abada, for an order of certiorari and prohibition on November 19, last year, to quash the processes initiated by the petitioners before the House of Chief on the grounds that the petitioners lacked the capacity to institute the action.

Moving the motion Mr. Willie Amarfio, representing Dr. Blankson and Nii Akropong said “the House of Chiefs does not have the jurisdiction to entertain or deal with a patently incompetent matter”.

He said the interested parties petitioned the House against the enstoolment of Dr. Blankson in his capacity as an individual and not as a paramount chief adding “they sued him in a court reserved for paramounts.They petition went to the wrong forum”.

“If they had sued him as King Tackie Tawiah III, the Ga Mantse, then they would have been in the proper forum and the co-respondents are also not chiefs but family heads but the Regional House of Chiefs deals with issues reserved for paramounts”.

In his response, Mr. A.G. Boadu, representing Nii Blofonyo urged the court to dismiss the application oughtright saying “this application is incompetent to be entertained”.

He argued that in matters of certiorari the issue of capacity was always left with the adjudicating body to determine and was not the reserve of counsel to decide.

Mr. Ben Akuetteh counsel for both Dr. Tackie and others and Winston Tackie and others said the petition was in the right forum, arguing that even though Nii Akropong and others were not paramount chiefs “they purported to elect a Ga Mantse which is paramouncy and the Chieftaincy Act is very clear on this”.