GA KINGMAKERS BONDED TO BE OF GOOD BEHAVIOUR

IN the interest of peace and to prevent further tension relating to the Gbese stool affairs in Accra, the Accra High Court has bonded the acting Gbese Dzaasetse Nii Adama Thompson and five kingmakers to be of good behaviour for two years.
The court bonded them in the sum of ¢50 million each or six months imprisonment in default and also cautioned them to respect the orders of all the Chieftaincy tribunals and the courts of competent jurisdiction.
It also awarded costs of ¢1 million jointly and severally against the respondents.
The court order followed a contempt case brought against the respondents for failing to comply with the Greater Accra Regional House of Chief (GARHC) judgement that they should deliver the stool and all regalia to the head of Akote (Akwetey) Krobo Saki We and all factions who were the right persons to install a chief.
According to the court, the order did not state that the handing over should be done to the applicant in person and moreover the applicant brought the action in his representative capacity for the Akwetey Krobo Saki ruling House of Gbese.
The court, however, found them guilty, taking into consideration that the compliance took place belatedly.
It said the protracted Chieftaincy dispute within the Ga, Gbese division went before the GARHC and in the judgement by its Judicial Committee, the respondents were ordered to deliver the stool and all regalia to the applicant and other people.
But the respondents, it said, defied the order thus compelling the instant action by the applicant and in the course of the proceedings other respondents applied to join as co-respondents and implicitly in their affidavit in support of their motion showed their awareness of the defiance by the original respondents and had chosen to associate them with the defiance.
It said after all processes had been filed and the matter ripped for hearing, counsel for the respondents raised a preliminary objection to the trial on the grounds that he had strong information that the applicant had died and was in the morgue and that should terminate the proceedings.
The court said it overruled the objection and stated that the contempt was against the GARHC Judicial Committee which was a recognised lower tribunal and, therefore, the death of the applicant as a complainant did not terminate the proceedings.
It said an exhibit stated that some persons of the Gbese stool on Sunday, September 10, 2006 witnessed the handing over ceremony to the Third Royal Ruling House, Nii Akwetey Krobo Saki Royal Ruling House at the Gbese Mantse Palace and included a list of witnesses.
Another exhibit, the court said was a publication in the Daily Graphic of Thursday, September 14, 2006 at page 41 captioned “Gbese Division resolves 40 years dispute” in which the acting Gbese Dzaasetse handed over the royal regalia to Ni Akwetey Krobo Saki III, head of the family, as well as some elders of the stool.
The court said the exhibits showed that there had been a handing over of the Gbese stool and the paraphenerlia to the Akwetey Krobo Saki We but the issue was whether that satisfied the order by the GARHC.
It said the respondents had purged themselves of the contempt before they were committed, though after a long delay, which had occasioned a delay and caused anxiety, fear and bitterness among the people of Gbese.
“Even if time was not stated in the order they were obliged to comply within a reasonable time”, the court ruled.