Ghana Telecom’s $16 million verdict is overturned by the Supreme Court
The Swedru High Court awarded $16 million in damages to Ogyeedom Obranu Kwasi Atta IV, Chief of Gomoa Afransie, in a land dispute in 2017, and Ghana Telecommunications Company appealed the decision. The Supreme Court sustained the appeal.
The Cape Coast Court of Appeal upheld the High Court ruling in 2020. However, the Supreme Court unanimously overturned the Court of Appeal’s verdict along with all related orders in a brief ruling read by acting Chief Justice Jones Dotse, and deferred the reasons for the ruling for today.
Conflicting issues
The issue is on a plot of land in Gomoa Afransie where Ghana Telecom, the successor to the previous P&T, built a microwave station sometime in the 1970s. On behalf of the Twidan Family of Afransie, however, Ogyeedom Obranu Kwasi Atta IV sued Ghana Telecom and the Lands Commission in 2015 for the declaration of title to the land, the recovery of ownership, and special damages of $4 per square meter of the land for breaches and unlawful occupation.
The Swedru High Court ruled against Ghana Telecom in 2017 and awarded the Chief and his family more about $16 million in damages. The Court of Appeal in Cape Coast dismissed Ghana Telecom’s appeal against the ruling in 2020, upholding the High Court ruling and double the fees that had previously been assessed against Ghana Telecom.
However, after Ghana Telecom appealed to the Supreme Court, the situation took a drastic change. The Supreme Court made an unusual decision by allowing Ghana Telecom and the Chief to present new evidence in the case.
The chief called two expert witnesses, each of whom claimed to have forensically examined the late chief’s signatures and come to the conclusion that he was not the person who signed the documents and received the compensation for the compulsory acquisition of the land, despite Ghana Telecom’s new evidence showing that the land had been compulsorily acquired in 1969 and payments made to the chief’s late predecessor.
Drama
When the chief filed a petition with the General Legal Council in March 2021, saying that he had paid $100,000 to his former attorney in the case, ostensibly as bribe money to influence the Supreme Court verdict, the drama surrounding this issue reached a fever pitch. The claim has been refuted by the attorney.
The Supreme Court overturned the earlier rulings in the case and awarded Ghana Telecom fees totaling GH 100,000 even though the company’s attorney had asked for GH 500,000.
Acting Chief Justice Dotse presided over the Supreme Court, which also included Justices Kotey, Owusu, Mensa-Bonsu, and Kulendi.
Mr. Ace Ankomah oversaw the legal team for Ghana Telecom, while Mr. Alexander Abban oversaw the legal team for the chief.
Table of Contents
About Author
