The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled in favour of the Dassana family as the rightful rulers of Bimbilla in the Northern Region. This followed the dismissal of an application brought by a rival family.
The area has over the past 15 years experienced instability as a result of a chieftaincy dispute which has resulted in the loss of lives and properties.
The apex court’s ruling affirms the verdict of the Northern Regional House of Chiefs and that of the National House of Chiefs, which had ruled in favour of the Andani Dassana family as the rightful heir to the Bimbilla throne.
The Supreme Court, in a land mark ruling yesterday, held that the rival family – Nakpaa Naa Dawuni – has no claim to the throne and subsequently dismissed the application brought by the family.
In 2014 the Judicial Committee of the National House of Chiefs dismissed an appeal brought before it by the rival family challenging the decision of the Regional House of Chiefs that the Dassanas are the legitimate rulers of the area.
Not satisfied with the decision, the Nakpaa Naa Dawuni family filed an application at the Supreme Court praying it to overturn the decision of the National House of Chiefs.
The family claimed it was the rightful heir to the throne and asked the court to consider the decision of the houses of chiefs.
Justice Julius Ansah – who presided – and Justices Kwasi Anin Yeboah, Baffoe Bonnie, Yaw Apau and Gabriel Pwamang unanimously held that they found no evidence in the application and subsequently dismissed it in its entirety for lacking merit.
Justice Pwamang, reading the judgment, held that the panel was satisfied with the findings of the two committees of the Northern Regional House of Chiefs and the National House of Chiefs. He said the Andani Dassana family is from the right lineage and is supported by conclusive evidence.
The decision of the Supreme Court is expected to bring an end to the decade-and-a-half-long fracas which has resulted in the loss of about 40 lives and properties running into hundreds of thousands of Ghana cedis.
Call For Peace
The area has been under dusk to dawn curfew as a result of the confusion.
Spokesperson for the Dassana family, Osman-Kikaa, speaking to the media after the judgment, expressed delight and hoped that the matter had been settled once and for all.
He called on both families to come together to rebuild the area which has seen little development as a result of the feud.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak