APALOO J.A.
In September 1971, government acquired for use as a game reserve and a national park a fairly large piece of land in the Kumawu Traditional Area of Ashanti. The area was otherwise known as the Digya National Park and the Kogyae Strict Natural Reserve. It was a compulsory purchase and the government came under a statutory obligation to pay compensation to the owners whose titles were extinguished or whose rights were otherwise affected by the acquisition.
The evidence shows that in addition to the Kumawu stool which claimed the compensation payable therefor, the applicants also claimed in their own right such compensation and the basis of their claim seems to be that the land acquired was their ancestral property. The government paid to the applicants an aggregate sum of one point five million cedis, odd. This payment seems to have been made in December 1975.
Some time after becoming cognisant of the payment, the respondents who claimed to be the customary custodians of all th…