The General Jurisdiction 12 of Accra High Court has adjourned the case between Kusi Boateng and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa for the defendant to be properly served.
According to the court, all necessary legal steps should be taken before the next hearing of the case.
The court announced during its hearing on Tuesday, February 21, 2023.
The Secretary to the Board of the National Cathedral Secretariat, Rev Kusi Boateng sued the North Tongu MP for defamation.
The Plaintiff [Rev Boateng] in his statement of claim says that Ablakwa has cast insinuations against him which are “not only misleading but calculated to injure his reputation.”
“The Plaintiff states that the statement published were defamatory and were authored with malice and with the sole intent of reducing him in the estimation of all right-thinking members of society as a corrupt, greedy, morally reprehensible and dishonest Reverend Minister of the Gospel,” portions of the writ indicated.
This suit follows the legislature’s published claims against Rev Kusi Boateng.
The allegations relate to the alleged transfer of state funds meant for the construction of the National Cathedral into a supposed bank account of a company said to be owned by Rev Kusi Boateng.
But according to Rev Kusi Boateng, although the claims are misleading, it has enjoyed wide readership, garnering 581 reactions, 135 comments and 126 shares as of January 25, 2023.
This, he emphasised, is “calculated to injure the reputation of the plaintiff in the minds of his family members, his congregation, fellow ministers of the gospel (locally and internationally), well-meaning members of the society, home and abroad.”
For this reason, he demanded the following;
a. A declaration that the statements made by the Defendant are defamatory;
b. An order directed at the Defendant to publish on the same platform that he published the defamatory words as well as a full page of the Daily Graphic Newspaper, on six consecutive occasions over a 6 month period, an unqualified retraction and an apology;
c. An order for perpetual injunction restraining the Defendant, his agents, assigns, and servants from further publishing any defamatory words against the Plaintiff;
d. General Damages for defamation;
e. Costs; and
f. Any other order(s) as this Honourable Court may deem fit.
