ATTITSOGBE vs. HARLLEY

This libel action arises out of a publication in a daily newspaper circulating in Ghana. The publication was at the instance of the defendant, then Inspector-General of Police and the Vice-Chairman of the National Liberation Council. The defendant later became a member of the Presidential Commission. It is alleged that the publication is defamatory of the plaintiff and further that the defendant in causing it to be published was actuated by express malice. Both the plaintiff and the defendant have submitted that the defendant as a member of the National Liberation Council and the Presidential Commission occupied in law the position of the President. From these premises the plaintiff contends that he was therefore immune from legal process and that is why the action was not brought earlier. The plaintiff pleads in paragraph (2) of his reply: “that since defendant was Vice-Chairman of the National Liberation Council and subsequently Vice-Chairman of the Presidential Commission and .....