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Court declares Odai Ntow family rightful owners of South West Kwabenya lands
An Accra High Court has entered judgement in favour of the Odai Ntow family over the South West Kwabenya lands in Accra.
According to the court, the Odai Ntow family are the rightful owners of the South West Kwabenya lands.
In a suit filed by Offei Kwaku Mante and substituted by Reverend Alexander Aryeequaye and Nii Amu Mante against the defendants, the plaintiffs in an amended statement of claims indicated that they were rather the rightful owners of the disputed land and had exercised ownership rights over them for many years.
The case of the plaintiff is that he is the head and lawful representative of the Nii Appenteng family of Pokuase-Otublohum, and that his ancestor, Nii Kofi Appenteng, a warrior, hunter and a member of the Akwamu tribe together with his children settled at Pokuase around 1934 where he was granted a parcel of land measuring 416.88 acres upon which he built cottages and carried out his farming and hunting activities.
According to the Plaintiff, his ancestor named the area “Ambuanda,” adding that having been in effective possession and exercising overt acts of ownership, the Appenteng family in 1960 caused the land to be surveyed and in 1990, the family made a statutory declaration, declaring the Appenteng family as owners of the Ambuanda lands and registered as Land Registry number 969/1993.
This, the plaintiffs said, was the state of affairs until the defendants (Odai Ntow family) started committing trespass on the said land in dispute.
However, according to the first and fifth defendant’s family, represented by Moses Musah, they were in possession of their lands without any challenge until 1904 when a dispute arose over the land.
The presiding judge, Mr. Justice Emmanuel Amo Yartey in his ruling said the plaintiffs failed to provide enough proof of the acquisition of the land, adding that ” throughout the case, the plaintiff’s family claimed that the land in dispute was granted them by elders of Pokuase but the law is that the proper person to prove the title of a grantee is the grantor, however surprisingly, the plaintiffs failed to call any member of the said family in proof of their acquisition of their land.”
“The failure to call such material witnesses is clearly fatal to their case so per the totality of evidence led, it is my candid opinion that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate that they are entitled to the reliefs they are seeking.
“They failed to identify boundaries of their land and also call material witnesses.”
All reliefs sought by the defendant, including an amount of GHC50,000.00 as damages, were granted by the court.
The Judge again ordered the Lands Commission to bring the judgement of the court to the notice of the affected persons for them to regularise their stay on the land with the defendants.
“Should the affected persons fail to atone tenancy, the defendants are at liberty to recover the said land,” Justice Amo Yartey added.
By Alfred Nii Arday Ankrah.
Renowned mental health professional, certified professional mediator and arbitrator, and marriage counsellor, Rev. Counsellor Prince Offei, has been inducted as a full member of the Ghana National Association of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Practitioners (GNAAP) on Saturday.
The induction took place during the 13th Annual Conference of GNAAP, held at the University of Ghana School of Law Auditorium, Legon, under the theme: “Transforming justice delivery in Ghana: Advancing ADR, technology, and ethical standards for sustainable national development.”
The high-profile ceremony brought together leading jurists, ADR experts, academics, and practitioners from across Ghana.
It was graced by the Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, and Dr Francis Kofi Korankye-Sakyi, Executive Secretary of the National ADR Centre.
Counsellor Prince Offei is the Founder and Executive Director of Counselor Prince & Associates Consult (CPAC), an award-winning, Ghana Psychology Council-accredited clinical mental health and counselling facility based in Adenta Oyarifa-Teiman.
His practice serves clients across Ghana and in Canada, Switzerland, South Africa, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Already recognised for his work in psychology, marriage counselling, theology, and media, Counsellor Offei expanded his portfolio in March 2026 with ADR certification from the Institute of Paralegal Training and Leadership Studies (IPLS) and GNAAP.
Saturday’s induction as a full member now positions him to practice formal mediation and arbitration at the highest professional standard in Ghana.
“This induction is more than a personal milestone. It is a commitment to help transform justice delivery in Ghana by making ADR more accessible, ethical, and technology-driven for families, institutions, and businesses,” Counsellor Offei stated in an interview.
With this, he said, he was now positioned to offer structured ADR services in commercial, family, land, cross-border, and court-connected disputes, bridging the gap between therapeutic healing and legal resolution.
He said what sets him apart is the integration of mental health and conflict resolution in his counselling and teaching sessions.
As a certified professional mediator and arbitrator, lecturer, author, Spectator Newspaper columnist, and TV personality on GTV, Metro TV, Angel TV, Amansan Television, and eTV Ghana, he brings a multidisciplinary approach to dispute resolution.
Counsellor Prince Offei serves as Director and Principal of the CPAC Counsellor Training Institute, which trains professional counsellors for licensing in Ghana.
In August 2025, he was inducted into the Corporate Ghana Hall of Fame for his contributions to psychology and relationship counselling.
As an intellectual, I watch and listen to discussions on TV and Radio respectively. I also sometimes browse the net to watch and read what is happening on social media platforms.
The attitude that are displayed by a lot of the political activists in terms of their comments is deeply concerning. Then comes the shock when these people begin to declare that they are Christians and start mentioning the denominations they belong to.
Early this week, one of them, mentioned that he belongs to the same denomination I belong to and I suddenly felt sad. People are defending the indefensible so long as it is in the interest of their political party.
They deliberately run commentaries that support the party line instead of upholding morality. Such attitude is the beginning of corruption and should such people get into public office, they are certain to condone wrong doing, no wonder the unacceptable corrupt acts that get exposed at Public Accounts Committee hearings, year after year.
I keep saying that the problem of this country is not the lack of expertise or resources, but lack of morality because it is the glue that holds each sector of the economy together and the overall governance together.
When society, does not prioritise morality, it does not matter how intelligent the people are, governance systems will not deliver expected outcomes. Citizens must therefore have a mindset of putting the nation first, in other words, citizens must be patriotic.
It is therefore worrying to see a lot of people rather doing everything possible to maintain allegiance to their political party. When national issues are being discussed, you find them towing their party line of argument, even if their party position lacks moral value.
Taking into account the population census, about 71 per cent are Christians and about 19 per cent are Muslims, implying that majority of the population are religious. Hence, the moral decline is the fault of the religious people, especially Christians, since they form the majority.
There are a lot of youthful people, who are quite intelligent and eloquent in the two leading parties in the country. When you listen to their logical analysis of issues, it leaves you in no doubt about their high level of intelligence.
As I keep saying, the most dangerous person, is not the armed robber but an intelligent person with a criminal mindset. Such a person can engage in propaganda that can create tension in the country.
Such people can lie with a straight face in such a convincing manner that, it can create chaos in the country. The political parties have a responsibility for ensuring a mindset change of their communicators to adhere to moral values and to be patriotic at all times.
What they should realise, is that, should the nation erupt in flames as a result of their careless utterances, as happened in Rwanda, no one will be spared.
The clergy, are usually the voice of conscience, who comes in to quell the storm, when there is confusion in the country. Unfortunately, some of them have lost credibility. They have tarnished their reputation by being partisan.
They have allowed their actions and utterances to betray which political party they sympathise with. This has taken away the neutrality which would enable them to mediate in conflicts that may arise.
It has gotten so bad that the youth openly insult them on social media platforms and so they do not have the moral authority to admonish, criticise or advise politicians who by their utterances go overboard and needs to be condemned or criticised.
It is high time the clergy with credibility, used their pulpits to preach against unpatriotic behaviour in our political space. God bless.
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