NII NORTEY OWUO III IS THE OSU MANTSE

Nii Nortey Owuo III, Osu Mantse and President of the Osu Divisional Council was enstooled Osu Mantse on 29th December 1984. He remains the one and only Osu Mantse and it is he who occupies the Osu Stool as of this day.

As alleged by Nii Ako Nortei IV, the Mankralo of Osu, Nii Nortey Owuo III was destooled by the 'withdrawal of Government recognition from Nii as published in the Local Government Bulletin No. 23 of 5th August 1986' of the Ghana Gazette. This particular matter was canvassed by Nii Ako Nortei IV before an Accra High Court, when the attention of Nii Nortey Owuo III was drawn to the fact that Nii Ako Nortei IV had filed a suit for recovery of rent from three (3) properties of the Osu Stool held by Unilever Ghana Limited. Nii Ako Nortei had claimed in Court to represent the Osu Stool as the Acting Osu Mantse, since in his view Nii Nortey Owuo III had been destooled by the withdrawal of Government recognition through the publication of the Gazette Notice referred to above.

In the event, the Accra High Court agreed with Nii Ako Nortei IV, but Nii Nortey Owuo III appealed to the Appeal Court asking for the High Court's judgment to be set aside. By unanimous landmark decision of the three Appeal Court judges, Nii Nortey Owuo III won his appeal. In the judgment, the three Appeal Court made the following points, among others:

It is noteworthy that a chief whose name and particulars are recorded in the National Register of Chiefs has the advantage of a rebuttable presumption of regularity in his nomination, election and installation in his favour so as to shift to his challenger, the onus of rebutting the contents of the certified extract from the Register. In these proceedings the Respondent Mankralo

has failed to discharge this onus of rebutting the Applicant/Appellant's status as reigning Osu Mantse. And neither has the Respondent Mankralo exhibited any judgment of a competent Chieftaincy Tribunal declaring adversely against the Applicant/Appellant's status as Osu Mantse.

Mankralo lost at the Appeal Court, fair and square; and so he appealed to the Supreme Court. But again, he was discomfited by the Supreme Court's judgment of 17th May 2006, which decisively confirmed the Appeal Court judgment in favour of Nii Nortey Owuo III as the incumbent Osu Mantse.

The status of Nii Nortey Owuo III as Osu Mantse has not changed since the Supreme Court judgment of 17th May 2006. No destoolment charges have ever been preferred let alone proved against him since 29th December 1984. Nii Nortey Owuo III thus remains the incumbent, undestooled Osu Mantse.

The purported installation of a so-called Osu 'king' on a stool which is not vacant is indeed a void action and of no legal consequence. It must therefore be ignored with the contempt it deserves.

Any person who deals or transacts any business on Osu Stool properties with Nii Ako Nortei IV Mankralo, the illegal Osu Traditional Council, the so-called Nii Okwei Dowuona VI and their associates; does so at his/her own risk.

The Mankralo the so-called Osu Traditional Council and all their associates who participated in the unlawful series of actions which fly in the face of the Appeal and Supreme Court judgments must begin preparing their responses to Contempt of Court charges that will soon be issued against them.

THIS PRESS STATEMENT IS ISSUED BY THE OSU DIVISIONAL COUNCIL OSU MANTSE PALACE, 2 KING STREET, KINKAWE, OSU. TEL: 021 775 870

SIGNED: NII OKWEI NORTEY
OSU STOOL SECRETARY
Contact: 0244 315 631

DATED: 14TH MAY 2007