Kwadwo Boateng-Agyemang
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Chairman for the New Juaben North Constituency in the Eastern Region, Kwadwo Boateng-Agyemang, has filed his statement of defence in a defamation suit against him and Adom FM initiated by a former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Dr. Stephen Opuni.
Mr. Boateng-Agyemang, in his defence statement, denied all the claims contained in Dr. Opuni’s suit, stating that the plaintiff would be put to strict proof.
It is the case of the NPP chairman that the transcription of the purported defamatory words for which he had been sent to court was taken out of context and Dr. Opuni failed to analyse the full statement which would have placed it in context.
Suit
The former COCOBOD boss sued Mr. Boateng-Agyemang over allegations of embezzlement of $400 million when he headed the COCOBOD.
Dr. Opuni is claiming the NPP chairman defamed him when he alleged that he (Opuni) withdrew the huge sums while he was in charge of the COCOBOD.
Attached to the suit is Multimedia Group Limited, operators of Adom TV, where the alleged defamatory statement was made.
Defamation
Dr. Opuni, in his statement of claim, averred that the defendant on Adom TV’s Badwan show stated that “meanwhile they have spent all the money. As of 20th December 2016, Opuni withdrew almost $400 million … he claims he used part of the money to organize a press soiree and to construct cocoa roads … I didn’t know that in Ghana two years after constructing cocoa roads, dwarfs are able to lift and take away the roads.”
This, according to the plaintiff, is understood to mean that he illegally withdrew $400 million from the coffers of COCOBOD.
Dr. Opuni is seeking general damages as well as exemplary damages of GH¢20 million against the defendants, a retraction and apology on Adom TV and its online platform with the same prominence given to the alleged defamatory statement.
Defence
But Mr. Boateng-Agyemang, in his statement of defence, has said his comment was fair and speaks to the facts of issues happening in the country.
According to him, the interpretation of his words and the innuendo alluded to by Dr. Opuni were “misplaced, over stretched and ill-fitted in the context in which the defendant spoke.”
He said his discussions on the programme related to what government had done better in the cocoa sector, and he gave a historic performance of successive governments and concluded that the Akufo-Addo government had done remarkably well compared to previous ones.
He avers that Dr. Opuni is not entitled to any of his claims as the instant suit is a calculated attempt to gag him from speaking on matters relating to Dr. Opuni’s time at COCOBOD.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak