EBUSUAPANYIN KWEKU ASSAFUAH, ANTHONY APPIAH AND REV. JOHN ADJEI vs. THE REGIONAL SECRETARY LAND COMMISSION SECRETARIAT AND REV. ARHIN DAVIES

The plaintiffs, led by the head of the Ebiradze family of Anaji and representatives of a residents’ association, sued the Regional Secretary of the Lands Commission Secretariat and Rev. Arhin Davies in the High Court, Sekondi, seeking injunctive and consequential reliefs to prevent deletion of leases over sectors B, C, D and F of the West Anaji Planning Scheme, to challenge the source and plotting of a plan submitted by the 2nd defendant, and to recover damages for alleged harassment and threats. Their case was that in earlier litigation their predecessor had sued over part of the land but the 2nd defendant had neither counterclaimed nor properly disclosed boundaries or title documents, and therefore could not rely on the earlier proceedings to support plotting and registration. The 2nd defendant contended that the plaintiffs’ predecessor, Ebusuapanyin Yaa Kwesi, had already litigated title to the same land against him in Suit No. LS 25/92 and had lost in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, and that the plaintiffs were therefore estopped from reopening the matter. Portion of judgment pointing to this: the section headed “FACTS OF THE CASE,” especially the reliefs set out after “On the 1st February 2007, the Plaintiffs herein instituted Suit No E1/16/07...” and the reproduced pleadings in paragraphs 1–6 and 14 of the statement of claim, together with paragraphs 5–11 of the amended defence and counterclaim.