MANTE AND ANOTHER V. BOTWE

TAYLOR J.S.C.: I agree with the decision which my brother Osei-Hwere J.A. will be reading that the appellants are entitled to succeed in their appeal. They lost in the district court and in the High Court and for that reason, it is necessary to indicate why the decisions of these lower courts are in effect being set aside by this court.

The facts have been exhaustively set out in the judgment of my learned brother Osei-Hwere J.A. and I do not therefore consider it necessary to repeat the said facts. Pleadings were filed in the district court, but there was no summons for directions, with the result that the issues were not highlighted to enable the lower courts to appreciate precisely the matters in controversy which ought to be resolved to enable a decision to be given. On a close reading of the pleadings and the evidence led, the issues can be identified, however, as follows:

(1) Is the plaintiff estopped from instituting the action by virtue of a valid customary arbitration held befo…