Supreme Court rules in favour of Nii Tackie Teiko Tsuru II

In a ruling yesterday, a five-member panel of the apex court which had Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang as its president, was of the view that before making the order to restore Nii Latse II’s name onto the register, the Kumasi High Court Judge, Justice Frederick Tetteh, did not give Nii Tackie Teiko a notice and hearing, thereby violating the rule of natural justice.

This comes after the apex court upheld a certiorari application filed by counsel for Nii Tackie Teiko Tsuru, Professor Peter A. Atupare.

The court said that the High Court did not afford Nii Tackie Tsuru his constitutional right to be heard in proceedings that directly affected his rights and interests as Ga Mantse.

Appeal

On June 12, this year, the Court of Appeal ordered the National House of Chiefs to restore Nii Adama Latse onto the national register of chiefs as the Ga Mantse (the Paramount Chief of the Ga State) within 14 days.

That was after it upheld a High Court ruling, which first gave the order in November 2021.

In its unanimous decision, the three-member panel of the second-highest court of the land held that the National House of Chiefs removed Nii Adama Latse’s name from the register without any evidence that he had been validly destooled, a prerequisite for removing a chief’s name from the national register, neither was there any evidence that he was dead, had been deposed or had abdicated or that an adjudicatory body had ordered the removal of his name.

Background

In April 2021, Nii Adama Latse learnt that his name had been expunged from the National Register.

To ascertain his status, counsel for Nii Adama Latse applied for a search with the National House of Chiefs, Kumasi, which confirmed that, indeed, his name had been expunged.

He then instructed his lawyer to write a letter of objection, demanding the restoration of his name in the register by April 27, 2021, but the National House of Chiefs, Kumasi, refused.

Following this, Nii Adama Latse, whose name was originally part of the register after submitting his enstoolment form from the Ga Traditional Council, filed a motion in a form of a judicial review at the High Court in Kumasi, seeking an order directed at the National House of Chiefs, Kumasi to restore his name onto the register as the Ga Mantse.

The relief was granted by the High Court. Dissatisfied with the ruling, the National House of Chiefs, Kumasi, went to the Court of Appeal to challenge the High Court ruling, which ordered the restoration of Nii Adama Latse’s name in the register.

Their argument was that the High Court was not the proper forum to seek a judicial review; hence, it was not clothed with the jurisdiction to hear the matter.

That appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal, affirming the High Court’s order for Nii Adama Latse’s name to be restored.

Reaction

By a press statement issued on June 13, 2025, the Office of King Tackie Teiko Tsuru refuted claims that the ruling confers chieftaincy legitimacy on Nii Adama Latse.

It emphasised that the judiciary did not have jurisdiction to determine matters affecting chieftaincy titles, which were the exclusive purview of the Judicial Committees of the Traditional Councils and the Regional and National Houses of Chiefs.

“The court merely upheld an administrative order — specifically, an order of mandamus compelling the National House of Chiefs to follow due legal process in maintaining or removing names from the National Register,” it said.

It added that the substantive matter regarding who rightfully occupies the Ga Mantse Stool remains unresolved and was still pending before the Judicial Committee of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs.

Certiorari

Nii Tackie Teiko then went to the Supreme Court for an order of certiorari directed at the National House of Chiefs in Kumasi to restore Nii Adama Latse II onto the national register of chiefs as the Ga Mantse.

In a certiorari application, Nii Teiko Tsuru also prayed the apex court to set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which upheld the High Court’s ruling, which first gave the order in November 2021 for Nii Adama Latse’s name to be restored in the register.

The motion, which was filed by counsel for the Ga Mantse, Professor Peter A. Atupare, argued that the High Court judge, Justice Frederick Tetteh, before ordering the restoration of Nii Adama Latse’s name, did not give Nii Tackie Teiko a notice and hearing, thereby violating the rule of natural justice.

The High Court, it said, failed to afford Nii Tackie Teko his constitutional right to be heard in proceedings that directly affected his rights and interests as Ga Mantse.

In addition to this, counsel argued that the Court of Appeal, which had Justices Georgina Mensah-Datsa, Eric Baah and Kwamina Baiden on its panel, committed an error of law when it upheld the ruling of the High Court despite the lower court lacking the jurisdictional basis to reach the said conclusions.

It is this application that has been upheld by the apex court.