Alexander Afenyo-Markin
A High Court in Accra yesterday struck out a GH¢15 million defamation suit filed by the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, against the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi and Multimedia Group for being procedurally defective.
The court, in a ruling on a preliminary objection raised by lawyers for Sammy Gyamfi, held that his writ of summons filed on behalf of the Member of Parliament for Effutu Constituency failed to comply with mandatory procedural requirements regulating libel actions.
Mr. Afenyo-Markin had filed the suit following allegations of extortion made against him by Sammy Gyamfi in the hit of exchanges surrounding the alleged US$1.7 billion loss associated with the Bank of Ghana’s Domestic Gold Purchase Programme in 2025.
Sammy Gyamfi’s lawyers entered conditional appearance and raised an objection to the propriety of the writ and urged the court to set it aside for failing to meet the requirements of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004 (C.I. 47), which prescribe specific requirements for writs in libel actions.
In its ruling, the court, presided over by Justice Agyenim Boateng, held that a writ in a libel action must contain sufficient particulars of the alleged defamatory publication to enable the publication in question to be identified.
He said it is trite an amendment cannot be granted or sought for the purpose of conflicting an objection to a process that is pending before the court, adding that it would not consider the amended process for the purposes of the ruling.
The court explained that the application before it was brought under Order 57, Rule 2, which requires a writ in an action for libel to be endorsed with sufficient particulars of the allegation forming the basis of the action.
The court agreed with the applicant that the failure to endorse the particulars of the alleged defamatory publication on the writ of summons rendered the action defective.
The court also held that it was unable to accept the argument that the particulars contained in the statement of claim could cure the defect in the writ in the circumstances of the case.
Consequently, the court set aside the plaintiff’s writ of summons and statement of claim filed on August 24.
The court did not make any order as to costs.
Writ
Mr. Afenyo-Markin, in his statement of claim, was seeking general damages for libel, aggravated damages, exemplary damages and an order directing Sammy Gyamfi and Multimedia Group to publish a full, unconditional and unequivocal retraction of the defamatory statements
He was also seeking an order directing the Defendants to publish a full, unconditional and unequivocal public apology to the Plaintiff
“An order directing that the retraction and apology be published and/or broadcast with substantially the same prominence and reach as the original publication.
Again, he sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining the Defendants, their servants, agents, assigns and/or any persons acting under their authority from further publishing the defamatory words or any words to the same or substantially similar effect concerning the Plaintiff
He further sought costs of GH¢15 million, including legal costs.
A Daily Guide Report