Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Friday July 9, 2010
THE immediate past New Patriotic Party (NPP) Chairman for Abokobi-Madina Constituency in the Greater Accra Region, Kofi Asante aka Champion Chairman has filed a suit against SMS Limited publishers of ‘Today’ newspaper and two others for defaming his character.
The suit, which is claiming GH¢ 100, 000.00 in damages also cites Baba Zakaria, Presiding Member of the Ga East Municipal Assembly and Foster Arthur, the Constituency Youth Organizer of the NPP as the other defendants.
Apart from asking for punitive damages, the plaintiff, Mr. Asante also wants the court to order ‘Today’ to retract the ‘libelous’ story and another order for perpetual injunction to restrain the defendants from publishing defamatory stories about him.
Mr. Asante is claiming that a banner headline of November 16, 2009 “NPP Chairman in Micro Finance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) deal” that was carried by ‘Today’ was libelous.
He believes that the story was circulated by Zakaria and Arthur.
In the statement of claim filed by his solicitors, Ablewor Law Chambers, the former NPP Chairman said in or around late 2008 at various party meetings that was attended by numerous party supporters and the public at Madina and its environs, Zakaria and Arthur made statements which affected his business reputation.
He claimed that the two men said “you Kofi Asante, you have fraudulently connived with your daughter, Akosua Darkoa to collect and share in your house MASLOC loans to your cronies and gangsters, thus depriving the others in the constituency of the MASLOC facility.”
The plaintiff claims Zakaria and Arthur went ahead to distribute at the said gathering documents with names of beneficiaries of the MASLOC facility, which they alleged that Mr. Asante, through his daughter, has purportedly manipulated to unjustly enrich himself and the family.
“The defendants knew and intended that these words or their gist should be re-published among others in the press and/or authorized their repetition.”
He claimed, “Today, in its November 16, 2009 publication Vol.2, No. 0161 ISSN: 0213-2542 deliberately wrote and published for public consumption a malicious story on the front page headlined, ‘NPP Chairman in MASLOC Deal” alongside a true copy of the plaintiff’s photograph and drawn out discourse on page 11 of the said paper practically scandalizing the plaintiff and his family, imputing fraud and negative manipulation with the obvious intention to malign the plaintiff’s character, personality and career.”
It is the case of the plaintiff that certain portions of the publication tarnished his image because the publication sought to portray him as engaging in a “counterfeit and improper or illicit deal pertaining to MASLOC for his own selfish and greedy interest.”
The plaintiff says he never at any point hand in MASLOC funds allocation in the Abokobi-Madina Constituency.
“The said publication by the defendants was not only a vicious attempt to asphyxiate my political ambitions, having put same in the public domain at the peak of my political party campaign to retain the NPP chairmanship position in the constituency, but has also gone to project me to all serious-minded and well meaning people in Ghana and beyond as a fraudulent character, arm twister, veiled thief and corrupt person.”
He stated that the publication has ‘mangled’ his political career, suffocated his business activities and presented him in an extremely negative light before members of his family, NPP, among others.
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