A Deputy Minister for Finance, Abena Osei-Asare, has sued the publishers of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, its editor-in-chief, Kwaku Baako Jnr. and a journalist, Frank Amponsah.
The Deputy Minister has the two journalists and the newspaper for allegedly associating her with a demolition carried out at Roman Ridge in Accra in October 2021.
The plaintiff says the publication which was headlined, “Dubai Embassy Demolishing Spree, Minister, and husband fingered,” was malicious.
It is reported that when the newspaper first broke the same story on October 18, 2021, an attempt was made to associate the former President, John Dramani Mahama, with the said demolition.
Aside from that, it was alleged that the Ayawaso West Municipal Assembly demolished the property because the land belongs to the former president.
The paper is said to have repeated the story on April 4, 2022.
Frank Amponsah, the journalist, is said to have met with the lawyer for the Deputy Finance Minister, who is the spouse and was given full access to all the court documents and facts relating to the case, which started in the year 2002 and had judgment given in 2015.
The land in question was the subject of a judgment of the High Court granted in 2015 in favour of the owner, Frank Nuamah, against three persons, namely Adjei Darko, Francis Don Lartey and Alhaji Adams.
The plaintiff, Frank Nuamah, was put in possession of the property when the court went into execution in May 2016.
An attempt by one of the defendants in the case, Alhaji Adams, to have the judgment set aside was shot down by the High Court in a judgment by Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe (Mrs.) on November 2020.
The Deputy Minister says demolition was done by the owner, who has been in possession of the property since May 2016 and she could be associated with it.
According to her, her reputation has been “seriously injured by these statements” and her image lowered in the eyes of right thinking members of the society.
She is therefore seeking damages for defamation and a retraction and apology from the publishers.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
