Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 17 April 2000
A review panel of the Supreme Court has for the second time dismissed an appeal against Mr Anthony Kwaku Opoku as a royal of the Krobo stool of Asante.
The panel, by a majority decision of 6-1, in addition awarded 2.5 million cedis cost against Madam Akua Nyamekye, the applicant. Mr Justice E.K. Wiredu, presiding judge, Mrs Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo, Mr Justice F.Y. Kpegah, Mr Justice E.D.K. Adjabeng, Mr Justice W.A. Atuguba and Miss Justice S.A.B. Akuffo, ruled in favour of Mr Opoku with Mr Justice A.K.B. Ampiah dissenting.
In 1992, Madam Nyamekye, acting on behalf of Obaapanin Amma Serwah of Krobo in the Kwabre District, swore the great oath of Asantehene that Mr Opoku, also known as De-Porres, was not a royal of Krobo and, therefore, was not eligible to occupy the stool.
She filed a suit at the Kumasi Traditional Council (KTC) and a judicial committee under the chairmanship of Nana Osei Kwame, Atipimhene, ruled in favour of Mr Opoku.
Madam Nyamekye filed an appeal against the ruling at the Ashanti Regional House of Chiefs and it was upheld by a judicial committee under the chairmanship of Nana Otuo Serebour II, Juabenhene, setting aside the ruling by the KTC.
Mr Opoku appealed against the ruling to the National House of Chiefs and another judicial committee chaired by Odeefuo Boa Amponsem, Denkyirahene, reviewed the ruling and ruled in his favour.
Madam Nyamekye, not satisfied, appealed against the ruling at the Supreme Court on the grounds that the National House of Chiefs (NHC) misconceived their function as a second appellate tribunal and erred in law to allow the appeal.
On July 21, last year, a panel by the Supreme Court presided over by Mr Justice Charles Hayfron-Benjamin, by a 3-2 majority decision, dismissed the appeal filed by Madam Nyamekye. She, however, filed another appeal to the Supreme Court for a review.
GRi.../