Abudus appeal against K’si ruling

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday December 7, 2010
The Abudu Royal Gate in the Dagbon chieftaincy dispute has filed a notice of appeal against a Kumasi High Court’s decision to dismiss certain aspects of an application filed against some chiefs of the Andani Royal Gate and the Attorney General who represents the Ministry of the Interior.

The court presided over by Justice Jacob Boon on November 26, 2010 had dismissed the application of two chiefs representing the Abudu Royal Family on the Committee of Eminent Chiefs helping to resolve the protracted Dagbon conflict, on the grounds that the applicants did not have the capacity to institute the action in the first place.

Kworli Gbang-Lana Mahama of Kworli Palace and Bavum Lana of Bavum had jointly filed the suit against Kpan Naa Bawah Mahamadu, Chief of Kpano-Kpani; Kampa Kuya-Naa Abdulai, Regent of Dagbon; and the Attorney General who is the legal representative of the Ministry of the Interior.

In the notice of appeal filed on November 29, 2010 at the Court of Appeal in Kumasi, the plaintiffs contended that the judge failed to consider adequately the reliefs they sought and said once the judge conceded that evidence ought to be led in order to establish the fact that the plaintiff/appellants did comply with the relevant provisions of Act 555, he (the judge) was wrong in dismissing the entire action on the grounds of non-compliance.

“Assuming without admitting that the plaintiff/appellant did not serve the relevant notice to the Attorney General before instituting the action, the learned judge ought to have adverted his mind or adverted himself to the relevant provisions of Act 555 which talks of ‘staying’ the action until the compliance of other requirements.”

The plaintiffs/appellants said the decision by the court that the action should have been instituted in the Northern Region instead of Kumasi in the Ashanti Region “was absolutely palpably wrong in law”, saying the failure to institute the action in the Northern Region did not render the action invalid and a nullity.

They said the judge was required by law to have referred the matter to the Chief Justice to determine the convenient forum.

“At the material time that the learned judge sat on the matter, he was not clothed with capacity and or jurisdiction to have gone into the matter since by statutes, acts, the constitution, decided cases etc, it is only the Chief Justice who can properly, validly etc transfer a matter from one High court judge to another”, adding “the non-compliance with such all important requirement rendered the entire decision/ruling by the learned judge null and void.”

They are therefore asking the Court of Appeal to set aside the entire ruling.