The Supreme Court has determined the rightful owner of 2,911.53 acres of land at Katamanso
The Supreme Court of Ghana has unanimously affirmed Agri-Cattle Lakeside Estate Ltd as the rightful owner of 2,911.53 acres of land at Katamanso in the Greater Accra Region.
The landmark ruling by a five-member panel, led by Chief Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo, validates the company’s ownership based on Land Title Certificate No. TD 0513, issued from a grant by the Nungua Stool.
The Case of the Plaintiff
On 10 May 2017, the Plaintiff in the above-mentioned case sued Agri-Cattle Lakeside Estate Ltd (the Company) and 4 others for declaration of title to portions of lands belonging to and in actual possession of the company as described above. The Plaintiff's case is that he acquired the parcel of land in 2004 by lease from a supposed lessor by name Kplen We Family of La, Accra, for a term of 99 years and that the Deed of Lease was prepared for him by the said lessor in 2007.
According to the Plaintiff, before acquiring the parcel of land in dispute, his inquiries revealed that owners of the adjoining lands had all obtained their grants from the Kplen We Family and that he went into physical possession of the land in 2004 by putting up temporary structures on the land and planting crops thereon among others and subsequently in 2008 conducted searches at the Lands Commission, the statutory body vested with the mandate to keep data and or records of lands in Ghana, wherein it became apparent that the land so acquired by the Plaintiff was registered in the name of ‘Land and Housing Limited’ following which he (the Plaintiff) proceeded to regularise his acquisition of the land by attorning tenancy to the said Land and Housing Ltd. The Plaintiff further mentioned that in or about 2013, it came to his notice, once again, that the company being the rightful and legal owner of the land described herein holds title to and has been in undisturbed possession of the land since the year 1974.
Being in possession of the land for such a long time (1974), the Company had sold that portion of the land to some other persons (the 3rd and 4th Defendants) and there was no way, the Company would have sold the same parcel of land to the Plaintiff. The plaintiff felt aggrieved by the decision of the company not to regularize his documents and therefore instituted an action against the Company wherein he (the Plaintiff) in the suit pleaded that he was a bona fide purchaser for the value of the land in dispute.
The Case of Agri-Cattle Lakeside Estate Ltd (the Company)
The company confirmed the 3rd and 4th Defendants as their grantees and contended that the Company became the legal owner and in actual possession of the disputed lands in 1974 when a company called Black Watch Cattle Breeding Farms assigned its interest in the land to Agri-Cattle Lakeside Estate Ltd (the Company), known formerly as Agri-Cattle Limited. Accordingly, in 1995, the Company further leased from the Nungua Stool for a further term of fifty (50) years of the same piece of land and this was done with the consent and concurrence of their grantor, Agri-Cattle Limited changed the original use of the land for agricultural purposes to the construction of houses for let and sale and changed their name to Agri-Cattle Lakeside Estate Ltd.
The Company further stated that in 1996, Agri-Cattle Lakeside Estate Ltd acquired a Land Title Certificate No. TD 0513 over the land which had now reduced to 2,911.53 acres partly due to the compulsory acquisition of part of the land by the Government, under Executive Instrument (EI) 15. That it was part of Agri-Cattle Lakeside Estate Ltd's larger tract of land that Agri-Cattle Lakeside Estate Ltd granted to the 3rd and 4th Defendants, the same land that is being disputed.
The Decision of The High Court
On the 13th of November 2020, the High Court presided over by Her Ladyship Justice Merley Wood, JA in her final judgment dismissed the Plaintiff’s case and gave judgment to the Company on its counterclaim, declaring the Company as the legal owner of Lakeside Estate lands. The Court further declared that the evidence on record confirmed that the larger tract of land including the portion in dispute belonged to the Company. The Plaintiff, dissatisfied with the decision of the High Court, appealed to the Court of Appeal.
The Decision of the Court of Appeal
The Court of Appeal in its judgment presided by Justice Welbourne together with Justice Eric Kyei Baffour and Justice Prof. Anku-Tsede upheld the submission of the Plaintiff and set aside the judgment of the High Court.
The Court in its judgment of 30th March 2023 erroneously held that on the facts and evidence on the record, the Plaintiff took steps to investigate the title of his grantors before acquiring same and that at the time the Company obtained judgment in 2009, declaring the Company as the owner of the land in dispute the Plaintiff had acquired a vested right in the land in dispute and therefore the said judgment could not operate to extinguish the Plaintiff vested right in the disputed piece of land.
The Court of Appeal subsequently reversed the judgment of the trial High Court and granted the reliefs of the Plaintiff sought at the High Court. The Company completely distraught and aggrieved by the judgment of the Court of Appeal caused its lawyers to as a matter of principle and the law launched an appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Decision of The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court in its unanimous judgment of 23rd October 2024 declared the Company as the legal owner of the lands measuring 2911.53 acres and covered by Land title certificate number TD 0513 and this has actually put beyond doubt that the Company is the lawful owner of the lands described herein. The Supreme Court also stated that the Plaintiff cannot remain in deliberate ignorance of the presence and possession of Agri-Cattle Lakeside Estate Ltd on the land in question since 1970 and that it was, therefore, wrong for the Court of Appeal to ignore the possession and title of Agri-Cattle Lakeside Estate to the question and state that the Plaintiff was not and could not have been a bona fide purchaser for value without notice just because one of the persons from whom he allegedly acquired the land had its name on the search report tendered in evidence.
The Supreme Court in its seminal decision was apt when it asserted during the judgment that, a critical review of the various Search Reports revealed that title to the land in question flowed from Nii Ayiku IV in 1970 to Black Watch (Cattle Breeding Farm) which later became known as Agri-Cattle Ltd and that it was in the year 2002 that one Numo Nii Amisah Nikoi popped up to make a grant to Land and Housing Ltd. There is no evidence whatsoever of the transfer of the land by Agri-Cattle Ltd to the said Numo Nii Amisah Nikoe to enable him to make a grant to the said Land and Housing Ltd.
Further, the title of Agri-Cattle Ltd continued to be recognized by the Lands Commission to Agri-Cattle Lakeside Estate Ltd to date. There is clearly no evidence of acquisition by either Numo Nii Amisah Nikoi or Land and Housing Ltd of the land in question to enable them lease same out to the Plaintiff.
According to the learned Justices of the Supreme Court, the registration of the 2009 Judgment was an addition to or an extension of earlier registration, and that the evidence on record would not support the finding by the Court of Appeal that the Plaintiff could only have had notice of Agri-Cattle Lakeside Estate Ltd's adverse interest after the 2009 judgment was registered subsequent to the Agri-Cattle Lakeside Estate Ltd grant from the third party and that based on these pieces of evidence according to Supreme Court, the argument that the 2009 judgment cannot operate retroactively to extinguish the Plaintiff’s allegedly acquired interest in the disputed land would not arise.
The Supreme Court further held that the evidence on record confirms that the Company had a good title to the land in dispute and importantly that at the time Lands and Housing Ltd, the Plaintiff grantor plotted an interest in the land, the Company had validly registered and subsisting adverse interest in the disputed land and that at all times material Agri-Cattle Lakeside Estate Ltd is the legal owner of all that land situate, lying and being at Katamanso in the Greater Region of Ghana containing an approximate area of 2911.53 acres and covered by Land Title Certificate No. TD 0513. Of particular importance of the decision of the Supreme Court worth highlighting for the attention of all and sundry is the fact that the judgment no doubt is the latest decision of the Apex Court that has elaborated the doctrine of bona fide purchaser for value without notice and has in the erudite judgment explained the doctrine in the following words: …“Any intending purchaser of property is put on his inquiry to make such investigations as to title as would enable him to rely on the plea of bona fide purchaser for value without notice.
If he failed to make such inquiries, he acted at his own peril if subsequent events disclosed that there was a valid challenge to the title he acquired, and the general principle of equity was that a purchaser was deemed to have notice of all that a reasonably prudent purchaser would have discovered. Thus, where the purchaser had actual notice that the property was in some way encumbered, she would be held to have had constructive notice of all that she would have discovered if she had investigated the incumbrance”.
Undoubtedly, Agri-Cattle Lakeside Estate Ltd is currently one of the leading Private Real Estate Companies with the main focus on providing the best quality, secured, and affordable houses to all buyers within and beyond the borders of Ghana. The Company is a gated community that provides first-class social amenities aimed at making the lives of all and sundry in the estate relaxing and more comfortable. The Company is located within Katamanso about thirty minutes’ drive north of Kotoka International Airport Accra.
Clearly, the judgment of the Supreme Court is a vindication of the quest for justice as has always been the driving force and heartbeat of the Management of Lakeside Estate Ltd. Suffice to say that the judgment is also the latest decision that has adumbrated and laid to rest the well-known principle on ‘bona fide purchaser for value without notice’.
In conclusion, the Managing Director of Agri-Cattle Lakeside Estate Ltd, Dr. Prince-Joseph M. K. Ayiku in his New Year message whilst complimenting everyone, conveyed season greetings to all cherished and prospective homeowners and also used the opportunity to inform all and sundry of the judgment of the Supreme Court that unanimously declared Agri-Cattle Lakeside Estate Ltd as the legal owners of the parcel of lands measuring 2911.53 acres, situate, lying and being at Katamanso in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana.
JKB/AE
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