The National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, has stated that he will be filing a notice of appeal and an application for stay of execution to challenge a decision of the High Court that went against him.
Sammy Gyamfi had been dragged to court by the Minister of Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, for alleging that one of the suspects arrested in connection with the kidnapping of some two Canadian girls in Kumasi, Seidu Mba, was his (Dr. Prempeh’s) errand boy.
This was during the period when Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh was the Minister of Education in 2009.
After years in court, the General Jurisdiction High Court (12) in Accra, presided over by Justice Charles Gyamfi Danquah on Thursday, October 13, 2022, ruled against Sammy Gyamfi, ordering him to pay GH¢500,000 damages to the complainant, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh.
In his response in a post on Facebook, Sammie Gyamfi stated that while the court ruled against him, he disagreed with the decision, adding that the court erred.
“After three years of litigation, the court today held that the said comment was defamatory and consequently awarded damages of GH500,000.00 and cost of GH50,000.00 against me.
“It is my considered view that the honorable court erred as its decision is contrary to the evidence that was put before the court. More importantly, I hold the view that the court’s decision to totally disregard the testimony of my witness, DW1, Mafus Jibril who testified that the said Seidu Mba was in fact the errand boy of Plaintiff and was in his company when he (DW1) was attacked in Manhyia sometime in 2012, constitutes a grave miscarriage of justice,” he wrote.
He added that he will take up the case in a higher court, hopeful that he will be served justice.
“Consequently, my lawyers will be filing a notice of appeal and an application for stay of execution to challenge the decision of the High Court forthwith. It’s my hope that justice will be served,” he added.
Commenting on his victory, the Minister of Energy, who is also the Member of Parliament for Manhyia South, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, issued a statement to express his happiness about the outcome of the case.
“A declaration that the words complained of and published by the defendant and contained in paragraph 14 herein are defamatory of the Plaintiff’s character.
“An order of the honourable court directed at the defendant to publish an unqualified retraction and an apology with the same prominence of the defamatory words received within seven days after the judgment.
“An order of the honourable court for a perpetual injunction restraining the defendant, his agents, assigns, servants and any person claiming authority from the defendant from further making/or publishing any defamatory words against the Plaintiff.
“The sum of One million Ghana Cedis (GHS1,000,000) in damages for the defamation,” the statement said.