An Accra High Court, General Jurisdiction 12 presided by His Lordship Charles Gyamfi-Danquah, on Monday October, 30, 2023, has ruled that Edward Nii Arday Ankrah who calls himself Nii Adjabeng Ankrah II is not a legitimate head of family let alone a chief of the Mantse Ankrah royal family.
This judgment comes after over two years of litigation about the legitimacy or otherwise of Edward Nii Arday Ankrah calling himself and acting as family head and chief of the renowned Mantse Ankrah royal family in suit No.GJ/0169/2021 in the matter of Emmanuel Nii Ankrah, Nii Amanor Ankrah and Joseph Nii Ankrah (PLAINTIFFS) Vrs Edward Nii Ardey Ankrah.
The court which, granted all the reliefs the plaintiffs sought has ordered Nii Ardey not to parade himself as a family head and or chief again.
He has also been ordered to render accounts and hand over all the family regalias and properties in his custody as well as return the keys of the family mausoleum to the plaintiffs within 7days. Failure to comply with the directive by the courts, the family can institute an action of accountability against him in court.
A cost of Forty Thousand Cedis was awarded by the court to the plaintiffs.
Speaking to the Plaintiffs’ counsel after the judgement, Lawyer Heward-Mills said he is excited that the case which, was started in 2021 has finally come to a conclusion and justice has been served with his clients as victors.
He, however, insisted that he needed to get the certified hard copy of the judgement to peruse for accuracy so that he could give full response to it. “Otherwise, it is a good judgment,” he said, “we have requested for the certified true copy of the judgement so that we could start with the execution processes.”
“This judgement paves the way for the Okanta lineage of the Mantse Ankrah royal family to provide us with our next head of family and chief.
Per our traditions and customs, it is their turn to nominate some individuals for the family to vet and choose one to lead. And, we hope to do that as soon as practicable,” one of the plaintiffs said.
Following his defeat, on the same day in the premises of the Accra High court, a case involving the defendant and Adolf Ankrah and others which, was set for trial on 30th October 2023 in suit No.LD/0910/2018 had to be discontinued by the defendant. A cost of Ten thousand Cedis was awarded against him.
Mantse Ankrah royal family has three branches, each with its own head and are described in the proceedings as Ankrah, Ayi and Okanta sections.
On top of all these three, is the overall head of the composite family. And, it is the turn of the Okantas to head the family, not the Ayis.
But, Nii Ardey knowing the customs and traditions still went against them to parade himself as head of the family and or chief.
