LAMPTEY JA. David Nii Aponsah, a legal practitioner, (hereinafter referred to as the appellant) took action on 30 January 1984 against Elizabeth Okailey and 2 others and claimed the reliefs set out in the writ of summons. The matters that led to the action were, briefly, that the National Defence Committee (NDC) made an order ejecting the appellant from premises which he occupied as a tenant of Elizabeth Okailey. The gravamen of the complaint made by the appellant was that the NDC had no jurisdiction to make that order. The court was invited to set aside that order. After summons for directions had been taken the hearing on the merits was adjourned from time to time until it was definitely fixed for hearing on 2 May 1989, that is to say, some five years after the writ of summons was sealed. On that date, the appellant did not attend court in person. Elizabeth Okailey was in court with her counsel, S M Asante. The court notes for that day read in part as follows:
“By Court: There is a l…