The Supreme Court has overturned the directive given to the National House of Chiefs in Kumasi to reinstate Nii Tackie Adama Latse II on the national register of chiefs as the Ga Mantse.
In a ruling delivered on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, a five-member panel led by Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang determined that the High Court judge, Justice Frederick Tetteh, failed to provide Nii Tackie Teiko with notice and an opportunity to be heard before issuing the order to restore Nii Latse II’s name, thus breaching the principle of natural justice. This decision followed the approval of a certiorari application submitted by Nii Tackie Tsuru’s legal counsel, Professor Peter A. Atupare.
The court emphasized that the High Court did not grant Nii Tackie Tsuru his constitutional right to participate in proceedings that directly impacted his rights and interests as Ga Mantse.
Previously, on June 12, 2025, the Court of Appeal had mandated the National House of Chiefs to restore Nii Adama Latse to the national register of chiefs as the Ga Mantse within a 14-day timeframe. This decision came after the Court upheld a High Court ruling from November 2021, which initially issued the restoration order.
In its unanimous ruling, the three-member panel of the Court of Appeal stated that the National House of Chiefs removed Nii Adama Latse’s name from the register without any valid evidence of his destoolment, which is a necessary condition for such an action. “The National House of Chiefs, Kumasi, removed the name of Nii Latse II from the national register without any evidence that he was dead, had been deposed or had abdicated or that an adjudicatory body had ordered the removal of his name. The decision of the National House of Chiefs, Kumasi was ultra vires, constituted an abuse of power and amounted to a wrong exercise of discretion, thereby constituting an error of law,” the panel stated while rejecting the National House of Chiefs’ appeal against the November 2021 High Court decision.
In April 2021, Nii Adama Latse discovered that his name had been removed from the National Register. To confirm his status, his legal team requested a search from the National House of Chiefs, Kumasi, which verified that his name had indeed been expunged. He subsequently instructed his lawyer to submit a letter of objection demanding the restoration of his name by April 27, 2021, but this request was denied.
Afterward, Nii Adama Latse, who had previously submitted his enstoolment form from the Ga Traditional Council to be included in the register, initiated a judicial review motion at the High Court in Kumasi, seeking an order to restore his name as Ga Mantse. The High Court granted this relief, but the National House of Chiefs, Kumasi, dissatisfied with the ruling, appealed to the Court of Appeal, arguing that the High Court was not the appropriate venue for a judicial review and thus lacked jurisdiction over the matter. The Court of Appeal dismissed this appeal, reaffirming the High Court’s order for Nii Adama Latse’s name to be restored.
In a statement released on June 13, 2025, the Office of King Tackie Teiko Tsuru rejected assertions that the ruling grants chieftaincy legitimacy to Nii Adama Latse. It clarified that the judiciary does not have the authority to adjudicate matters regarding chieftaincy titles, which fall under the jurisdiction of the Judicial Committees of the Traditional Councils and the Regional and National Houses of Chiefs. “The Court of Appeal did not and could not declare Nii Adama Latse II as Ga Mantse,” the statement read. “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 continued, noting that the core issue of who rightfully occupies the Ga Mantse Stool remains unresolved and is still pending before the Judicial Committee of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs.
The statement urged the media and the public to be cautious about the widespread interpretations of the ruling and called on all well-meaning GaDangme citizens and residents of the Ga State to remain calm and avoid being misled by misinformation.
