DR KWAME ADDO-KUFUOR vs. EBENEZER JOSIAH & ANOTHER [2005]DLHC7393

Date	2005-07-28
Suit No.	SUIT NO. AD 1/2005
Citation No.	[2005]DLHC7393

HIS LORDSHIP YAW APPAU J.

MESSRS ATTA AKYEA & CO FOR THE PLAINTIFFS.

DEFENDANTS UNREPRESENTED.

[2005]DLHC7393
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >DR KWAME ADDO-KUFUOR<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>EBENEZER JOSIAH &amp; ANOTHER<o:p></o:p>[HIGH COURT (FAST TRACK DIVISION),
ACCRA]<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">

</div>COUNSEL:<o:p></o:p>MESSRS
ATTA AKYEA &amp; CO FOR THE PLAINTIFFS. <o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">

DEFENDANTS UNREPRESENTED. <o:p></o:p>

</div>"The
Plaintiff is the brother of the President of the Republic of Ghana. He is a man
of repute in his own right. He is the Minister for Defence of Ghana and a
Member of Parliament for Manhyia Constituency in Asante. Indeed, he has been
re-elected to Parliament on three occasions. At a Point he acted as the
Minister of Interior. Aside of his high official ranking, the Plaintiff is a
Medical Doctor and the former President of the Ghana Medical Association. He
was a lecturer at the School of Medical Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science and Technology. <o:p></o:p>Such
is the very enviable and respectable reputation of the Plaintiff—a reputation,
which very few men attain in real life and most men, attain in their dreams.
Sadly, the reputation of the Plaintiff was shamelessly and without any basis
whatsoever, wickedly attacked by the defendants".<o:p></o:p>These
were the opening paragraphs of the written address filed by counsel for the
plaintiff for the consideration of the court in its assessment of damages to be
awarded to the plaintiff against the defendants in this action in which
plaintiff is claiming two main reliefs, viz; <o:p></o:p>i.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Substantial damages for libel and <o:p></o:p>ii.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Pertpetual injunction restraining
defendants and agents, etc from printing and publishing any further libelous
material against the plaintiff. <o:p></o:p>The
Plaintiff has been the substantive Minister for Defence since the present
government took office in January 2001. His counsel has properly described him
in his address as quoted above so I would not elaborate on that. <o:p></o:p>The
two defendants are the then Editor of the National Democrat Newspaper called
Ebenezer Josiah and the Printers and Publishers of the said newspaper by name
'DDD' Publications. <o:p></o:p>I
wish to state without any fear of contradiction that the 2nd defendant 'DDD'
Publications, from the records before the court, turned out to be a faceless
entity as its registered offices could not be traced anywhere for personal
service. The people behind it too are not known. This court therefore made an
order for the 2nd defendant to be served through substituted service upon an
application to this effect by the plaintiff. This was done by serving a copy of
the writ and statement of claim on the 1st defendant Ebenezer Josiah who
volunteered to accept service for and on behalf of the 2nd defendant. Again,
the action was published once in the Daily Graphic as directed by the court. <o:p></o:p>Counsel
for the plaintiff prefaced his address with a quotation from Shakespeare's
Othello, which poetically summed up the gravity of the damaging effect a
defamatory statement has on the reputation and feelings of the defamed. <o:p></o:p>This
action is a progeny of a publication carried by the Monday 4th to Wednesday 6th
October 2004 issue of the National Democrat Newspaper on its front page with
this catchy or captivating headline: "ADDO KUFOUR IN TROUBLE - has
questions to answer on the serial killings". <o:p></o:p>The
picture of the plaintiff was also printed and placed beside the article or
story with the following question posed underneath the picture: "Hon.
Addo-Kufour—will he tell the truth?" <o:p></o:p>The
article, without doubt, portrayed the plaintiff as a murderer who was involved
in the serial killing of women between 1999 and 2000 for which one Charles
Quansah was arrested, tried and convicted as one of those involved in the
murders. <o:p></o:p>I
must mention that from the year</main>