SHALABI AND ANOTHER V. THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL

HAYFRON-BENJAMIN J.: The plaintiffs are partners in the firm of Messrs. Shalabi Transport Service, Accra, registered under the Incorporated Private Partnerships Act, 1962 (Act 152), registered No. P. 208. The first plaintiff was born in the then Gold Coast on 30 September 1933 and the second plaintiff on 13 September 1935. Their parents were Lebanese. By reason of their birth in the Gold Coast, the plaintiffs were British subjects. The foregoing facts are admitted by the defence.

The plaintiffs go on and aver in their statements of claim that they were holders of British passports and gave the numbers of their passports. They held their passports until the Ghana Nationality Decree, 1967 (N.L.C.D. 191), was made, when they renounced their British nationality and applied for and obtained Ghanaian passports on 30 September 1968 and 24 October 1968 respectively. With the passage of the Ghanaian Business (Promotion) Act, 1970 (Act 334), which seeks to restrict the activities of aliens in ce…