A protracted litigation between the chief of Berekuso, who has ruled for over 30 years, and one Kwame Danso, who refers to himself as Ebusuapanyin Tiite Poku, has ended in a second defeat for Tiite Poku, this time in the Court of Appeal in Koforidua.
In 2018, Kwame Danso and others issued a Writ in the High Court, Accra, against Nana Oteng Korankye and Comet Properties Limited, a real estate company in Accra.
This suit was initiated in connection with a land transaction that Tiite Poku claimed had ensued between Nana Oteng Korankye and Comet. It was claimed that Counsel for Comet raised an objection against the capacity of the Plaintiffs to maintain the action.
The court, in its ruling dated 29th May, 2020, ruled that the Plaintiffs had the capacity to maintain the action.
In a sharp turn of events, Tiite Poku took up this ruling and began laying claim to the lands at Abokobi and Berekuso, asserting that the ruling had declared him head of the family of Nana Oteng Korankye and further that it had placed control of the land in Berekuso in his hands.
Nana Oteng Korankye, who has maintained that he was not served with the Writ in the Accra Suit, has taken steps to challenge the ruling dated 29th May, 2020.
Nana Oteng Korankye II issued various Writs against Tiite Poku and his cohorts for what he described as unlawful acts.
In one of the suits against Tiite Poku before the High Court, Koforidua, Tiite Poku attempted to dismiss the action, claiming that the action constituted an abuse of the Court’s processes by virtue of the decision of the High Court dated 29th May, 2020.
Tiite Poku claimed that he has already been declared Head of family, for which reason Nana Oteng Korankye II should be “estopped from relitigating the matter”.
The Honourable High Court judge dismissed the application and ordered that the suit should proceed, as there are fundamental unresolved and disputed issues between the parties that could not be resolved by the application filed.
Appeal to the Court of Appeal
Tiite Poku filed an appeal against the decision in his bid to have the High Court’s decision overturned. Various applications by Tiite Poku at the High Court seeking to halt the proceedings were rejected by the Court.
In a unanimous decision dated 29th April, 2026, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal and rejected all the arguments advanced by Tiite Poku.
The Court of Appeal, in its 47-page judgment read by His Lordship Ernest Owusu Dapaah JA, rejected the claims by the Appellant.
The Court stated that the ruling dated 29th May, 2020, never resolved any issue of family headship, nor did it resolve any issues involving the control of family land. At pages 22 and 23 of the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Ernest Owusu Dapaah JA noted that:
“The ruling of 29th May 2020 addressed the capacity of the Plaintiffs in the Accra proceedings. The ruling of 25th June 2021 addressed the validity of the service of the writ of summons. Neither ruling determined the broader questions of family headship or authority over the lands now placed before the High Court, Koforidua.”
The Court of Appeal extensively discussed all the issues raised in the grounds of appeal by the Appellant and his Counsel and rejected all of them.
What This Judgment Means
What this judgment means is that contrary to the claims by the said Tiite Poku to have been declared as head of Nana Oteng Korankye’s family, the same is false.
Persons who might have believed and acted on the said false claims may wish to obtain a copy of the judgment and advise themselves accordingly.
Other Related Ruling of a Different High Court
Meanwhile, even before the decision of the Koforidua High Court and the Court of Appeal, the High Court in Adenta had earlier rejected the ruling dated 29th May, 2020.
The High Court, Adenta, in rejecting the ruling, noted that it was procured through a procedurally erroneous and flawed approach.
The Court determined that evidence before it showed that, since time immemorial, it has been the Berekuso Chiefs who have authority to control and grant lands at Berekuso and Abokobi.
