Nii Yaote Oto-Ga II Submits Petition

PETITION TO THE JUDICIAL COMMITTEE OF THE GREATER ACCRA REGIONAL HOUSE OF CHIEFS
DODOWA, A.D. 2007

PET. NO:……………………

1. FULL NAMES OF PETITIONERS:

i. Nii Yaote Oto-Ga II
ii. Nii Okai Mensah IV
iii. Nii Yahya Addy
iv. Nii Agyemang Kese
v. Niibi Nii Teiko Tackie

2. CAPACITY IN WHICH PETITION IS MADE:

i. THE 1ST PETITIONER IS AN ELDER OF AMUGI WE AND DZAASETSE OF THE GA PARAMOUNT STOOL
ii. THE 2ND PETITIONER IS THE HEAD OF AMUGI WE RULING HOUSE
iii. THE 3RD PETITIONER IS THE HEAD OF ABOLA PIAM RULING HOUSE
iv. THE 4TH PETITIONER IS THE HEAD OF THE TACKIE KOMME WE RULING HOUSE
v. THE 5TH PETITIONER IS THE HEAD OF TEIKO TSURU WE RULING HOUSE

3. PETITIONERS' ADDRESS FOR SERVICE:

GA PARAMOUNT STOOL HOUSE, KINGS ROAD, ABOLA, ACCRA

4. NAME AND ADDRESS FOR SERVICE OF PETITIONERS' COUNSEL:

DR NII ARMAH JOSIAH-ARYEH, OF. KOJO SMITH & ASSOCIATES, 3RD FLOOR, SWANMILL BUILDING, KWAME NKRUMAH AVENUE, ACCRA

5. NAMES AND ADDRESSES OF ALL PARTIES WHO MAY BE DIRECTLY AFFECTED BY THIS ACTION:

I. DR JO BLANKSON-LARTEY (ALSO KNOWN AS KING TACKIE TAWIAH III, SO-CALLED OR PRETENDER GA MANTSE) Ga Mantse's Palace, Kaneshie, Accra
II. NII AKROPONG (ALSO KNOWN AS DANIEL ARMAH TACKIE), Teiko Tsuru We, Opposite Ga Mantse's Stool House, Abola, Accra
III. NII TETTEH ASHONG, (GA SEITSE), Unnumbered House, Chorkor, Accra
IV. THE GA TRADITIONAL COUNCIL, Ga Mantse's Palace, Kaneshie, Accra

6. NAMES AND PARTICULARS OF WITNESSES WHOM THE PETITIONERS WISH TO CALL AT THE HEARING:

i. NUMO OGBARMEY III, SAKUMO WULOMO, SAKUMO WE, ORGLE STREET, ACCRA CENTRAL, ACCRA
ii. NII KPAKPA BLOFONYO, GA AKWASHONGTSE, KPAKPATSE WE, BUBIASHIE, NEAR ASERE ROYAL CEMETERY, ACCRA
iii. DR E.A. TACKIE, H/NO. D 732/3, ASAFOATSE NETTEY ROAD, ACCRA
iv. NII ADAMA NKPA AMMAH, H/NO. D 732/3, ASAFOATSE NETTEY ROAD, ACCRA
v. NII YARLAI MENSAH, H/NO. 2 OFANKOR STREET, KWASHIEMAN, ACCRA
vi. NII TETTEH AHINAKWA, HEAD OF NAA ONIDIN AKUA a.k.a. AKWETEY KROBO SAKI WE, GBESE, ACCRA

7. WHEREAS THE PETITIONERS (hereinafter called “the Plaintiffs”) being the Ga Paramount Stool Dzaase have reason to believe and can prove that the Respondents (hereinafter called “the Defendants”) have, without reference to them the Plaintiffs as the lawfully constituted customary and legal authority or appropriate kingmakers, purported to enstool the 1st Defendant as the new Ga Mantse, now petition against the said enstoolment upon the following grounds:

i. The Plaintiffs collectively constitute the Ga Dzaase vested with exclusive responsibility for the nomination, election and enstoolment of a Ga Mantse.

ii. The Plaintiffs respectively represent each of the four ruling houses of the Ga Paramount Stool; namely, Amugi We, Teiko Tsuru We, Abola Piam and Tackie Komme We; together with a Dzaasetse.

iii. Each of the Plaintiffs has, by Ga custom and usage, been appointed head of family by the respective ruling houses with the automatic right to membership of the Ga Paramount Stool Dzaase. The four ruling houses were so found by the Judicial Committee of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs in James Aryeekwei Lartey & Others v. E.O. Tackie & Others;

iv. Upon nomination by Amugi We, the first Plaintiff was appointed Ga Dzaasetse (head of Dzaase) by the whole Ga Paramount Stool Dzaase.

v. The last Ga Mantse, Boni Nii Amugi Sorse II, died on 10th December 2004, thereby rendering the Ga Paramount Stool vacant.

vi. It is the duty of the Dzaasetse to see to the dignified funeral and befitting burial of the deceased monarch of the Ga Traditional Area.

vii. By Ga custom and usage the Dzaase is collectively responsible for carrying out the funeral of a deceased Ga Mantse and thereafter initiating processes for the nomination, election and enstoolment of a successor Ga Mantse.

viii. Succession to the Ga Paramount Stool is by rotation among the four ruling houses.

ix. Of the last four deceased Ga Paramount chiefs, Nii Tackie Oblie II represented Abola Piam, Nii Tackie Tawiah II represented Teiko Tsuru We, Nii Tackie Komme represented Tackie Komme We; and Boni Nii Amugi Sorse II represented Amugi We.

x. Following the death of Boni Nii Amugi Sorse II, the 1st Defendant, pursuant to an unlawful conspiracy between him and the Ag. President of the Ga Traditional Council, was falsely held out by the Ag. President to be only an advisor of the Ga Traditional Council. Next, however, the 1st Defendant metamorphosed into “Convenor” of the Ga Paramount Stool Dzaase with a view to reconstituting the post-Nii Amugi Dzaase.

xi. Well before the burial of the deceased monarch, on 27th January 2007, the 2nd and 3rd Defendants, from Teiko Tsuru We, without any form of participation by the Ga Paramount Dzaase, and pursuant to an unlawful conspiracy between them and the 1st Defendant clandestinely, purported to put the 1st Defendant in customary confinement early in June 2006 preparatory to his enstoolment as the successor Ga Mantse.

xii. Vehement opposition thereupon errupted from the three other ruling houses as well as the majority Elders of Teiko Tsuru We itself when the secret leaked out. The resulting dispute was thereupon referred to Nai We where the 2nd and 3rd Defendants conceded before the Nai Wulomo and Elders of the Nai Shrine that they had acted as aforesaid in error. They were accordingly subjected to customary fines which they paid.

xiii The purported confinement was thereupon declared null and void by Nii Tetey, the Nai Wulomo.

xiv. But the Defendants, in utmost bad faith, fraudulently and unlawfully caused the publication on the front page of the Daily Graphic newspaper the following day of sensational news to the effect that the 1st Defendant had been enstooled Ga Mantse.

xv. The foregoing unlawful clandestine actions of the Defendants occurred prior to the burial of Boni Nii Amugi II, and were consistently opposed by the protests of the Plaintiffs, and were furthermore null and void in any event by Ga custom and usage, which absolutely forbids the enstoolment of a successor chief before the dead predecessor chief has been buried.

xvi. The Petitioners also say that key customary rites to be performed for every Ga Mantse, including in particular the tying on his wrist of the ancient afli (wristband) to signify the unbroken chain of continuous succession since the reign of Nii Ayi Kushi, which should have been performed by Numo Ogbarmey III, (the Sakumo Wulomo) and the Gbese Mantse or in his absence the Gbese Regent, have never been carried out for the 1st Defendant.

xvii. Indeed, the continued false posturing by the 1st Defendant by holding himself out as the Ga Mantse, and by his being fraudulently held out to be such by the other Defendants constitute an affront to the Ga people and their traditional institutions.

xviii. In spite of the illegality of the 1st Defendant's actions and the protestations of the Plaintiffs and of ordinary Ga people in general, the 1st Defendant has continued to style himself as Ga Mantse and mounted an elaborate and fraudulent charade as King of the Ga people under the guise of a coronation ceremony, a rite unknown to Ga custom and usage.

xix. Furthermore, under the above mentioned charade the 1st Defendant, with the active support of the other Defendants, continues to parade falsely and unlawfully as Ga Mantse.

xx. The 4th and 5th Defendants have acquiesced in the unlawful and uncustomary acts of the 1st Defendant and continue to permit him to preside unlawfully over meetings of the Ga Traditional Council.

xxi. It is the Petitioner's case that the 1st Defendant does not have any relevant royal blood to qualify him to succeed to the patrilineal Ga Paramount Stool, being the son of a Gbese man of Jafro Otu We (instead of Abola Piam) and an Asere woman from Asere Djorshie.

xxii. The Petitioners further say that occupants of the Ga Paramount Stool must be of patrilineal Abola blood whereas the 1st Defendant claims that it was his grandmother, one Ameley Nkpa, who was of Abola blood.

xxiii. By the rules of patrilineal succession to the Ga Paramount Stool, Ameley Nkpa, being female, had no capacity to transmit the royal blood to her own children and her children's children, (whether male or female).

xxiv. At any rate, in the rotational patrilineal succession to the Ga Paramount Stool, it is the turn of Abola Piam (and not Teiko Tsuru We) to provide a candidate Ga Mantse to succeed the late Nii Amugi II, and furthermore that the process of succession is one to be conducted and supervised by the Ga Paramount Stool Dzaase. Consequently the purported nomination, election and enstoolment of the 1st Defendant by the Defendants (who are from Teiko Tsuru We) are all and each unlawful, null and void.

NOW THEREFORE the Plaintiffs seek the following reliefs:-

a. A declaration that Ga customary law and usage the purported nomination, election and enstoolment of the 1st Defendant, Dr. Joe Blankson-Lartey was null and void and of no legal effect whatsoever.
b. A declaration that the 1st Defendant is in any event NOT a patrilineal candidate for succession to the Ga Paramount Stool OR ALTERNATIVELY he is NOT from the appropriate lineage to be nominated, elected and enstooled Ga Mantse;
c. A declaration that it is in any event the turn of Abola Piam We to provide a candidate Ga Mantse to be nominated, elected and enstooled to succeed the late Nii Amugi II, as per the ruling of the Judicial Committee of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs on 13th September 1988 in the said case of James Aryeekwei Lartey & Others v. E.O. Tackie & Others;
d. A declaration that the purported admission of the 1st Defendant to membership of the Ga Traditional Council and his appointment as its President are respectively illegal, null and void, being contrary to Ga customary law and usage;
e. Further or other order or orders as to this Judicial Committee may seem fit and proper, including, in particular:

(1) a perpetual injunction restraining the 1st Defendant whether by himself, his servants, agents, privies whomsoever or otherwise howsoever, from holding himself out in any manner whatsoever as Ga Mantse and/or King of the Ga people under any purported Stool name whatsoever and further from exercising and/or holding himself out as being entitled in any manner whatsoever to exercise the function and/or office of Ga Mantse.

(2) Restraining the 2nd, 3rd, 4th Defendants or any of them, whether by themselves their servants, agents, privies whomsoever or otherwise howsoever from holding out the 1st Defendant in any manner whatsoever as the Ga Mantse and/or King of the Ga people under any purported Stool name whatsoever and from holding out the 1st Defendant as being entitled in any manner whatsoever to exercise the function and/or office of Ga Mantse

DATED IN ACCRA THIS 1ST DAY OF OCTOBER 2007.

………………….
NII YAOTE OTO-GA II
1ST PETITONER (Head of Ga Paramount Stool Dzaase)

THE REGISTRAR
THE JUDICIAL COMMITTEE OF THE GREATER ACCRA REGIONAL HOUSE OF CHIEFS
DODOWA

AND TO:
1. Dr Jo Blankson-Lartey a.k.a King Tackie Tawiah III, (so-Called or Pretender Ga Mantse) Ga Mantse's Palace, Kaneshie, Accra

2. Nii Akropong a.k.a David Armah Tackie, Teiko Tsuru We, opposite Ga Mantse's Stool House, Abola, Accra.

3. Nii Tetteh Ashong, (Ga Seitse), Unnumbered House, Chorkor, Accra

4. The Registrar, Ga Traditional Council, Ga