Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey and Steve Mallory<\/strong><\/p>\nThe
\nMinister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey,
\nhas filed a $20 million libel suit against Africawatch magazine.<\/p>\n
The
\naction is in respect of a publication titled: \u201cGhana Exclusive: the Inside
\nStory of the Oslo Scandal Conspiracy to Steal, Ayorkor Botchwey\u2019s lies exposed,
\nNana Akufo-Addo\u2019s defence falls flat,\u201d by the magazine.<\/p>\n
The
\nNew Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Anyaa Sowutuom has also
\nattached Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP for
\nNorth Tongu Constituency in the Volta Region, in the suit.<\/p>\n
The
\nsuit cites General Media Strategies INC, publishers of Africawatch as first
\ndefendant; Steve Mallory, Editor of the magazine as second defendant; and Samuel
\nOkudzeto Ablakwa, as the third defendant.<\/p>\n
In
\nher statement of claim, the plaintiff averred\u00a0
\nthat in June 2019, her attention was drawn to a defamatory cover page
\nstory on the defendant\u2019s Africawatch magazine with the headline: \u201cGhana
\nExclusive: the Inside Story of the Oslo Scandal Conspiracy to Steal, Ayorkor Botchwey\u2019s
\nlies exposed, Nana Akufo-Addo\u2019s defence falls flat.\u201d<\/p>\n
According
\nto the Foreign Affairs Minister, \u201cThe third defendant (Ablakwa) republished the
\ndefamatory matter \u2013 the subject of this litigation \u2013 on Facebook which said the
\npublication has since generated various comments on Facebook.\u201d<\/p>\n
She
\naverred that the entire article is full of factual inaccuracies and clearly
\nportrays the malicious intent of the defendants to tarnish her hard-won
\nreputation. <\/p>\n
The
\nplaintiff reiterated that pursuant to a decision of the Government of Ghana to
\nopen a foreign mission in Oslo, a five-member team of senior officers were
\ndispatched to Oslo to undertake feasibility studies to procure a chancery,
\nambassadors and staff residence and other allied facilities.<\/p>\n
The
\nplaintiff said that there were laid-down procedures within the ministry that
\ngovern the acquisition of property on behalf of the state before any financial
\ncommitment to contract.<\/p>\n
According
\nto the plaintiff, until such procedures were exhausted, there cannot be any
\nfinancial commitment by or on behalf of the ministry in the purchase of any
\nproperty for the state such as the property giving rise to the instant suit.<\/p>\n
The
\nforeign minister, therefore, averred that she had not committed Ghana to any
\nfinancial obligation to any property owner in Oslo in respect of a future
\nchancery, ambassadors and staff residence in Oslo.<\/p>\n
Further,
\nshe said President Akufo-Addo had not played any role that was criminal in
\nnature for the defendants to seek to suggest so in their publication.<\/p>\n
Again,
\nshe argued that the entire article was totally inconsistent with the headline
\nand it showed the malicious intent of the defendants.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe
\nplaintiff understands the defendant\u2019s statement that she has inflated the cost
\nof building to a whopping $16.5 million to mean that she is criminally minded
\nand plans to dupe the people of Ghana,\u201d she stated.<\/p>\n
Claims<\/strong><\/p>\nThe
\nplaintiff is, therefore, praying the court to declare that the defendants\u2019
\npublication that her involvement in the Oslo property is \u201ca shameful conspiracy
\nto steal from the state,\u201d is defamatory of the plaintiff and same was made
\nwithout basis. <\/p>\n
She
\nis seeking an order of injunction on the defendants, their agents, from further
\nmaking defamatory publications against her and a further order on the
\ndefendants to retract the publication and render an unqualified apology in the
\nsame manner as the publication. <\/p>\n
The
\nminister is also seeking compensatory damages of $20 million against the
\ndefendants as well as general damages. <\/p>\n
Leave of Court<\/strong><\/p>\nMeanwhile,
\nan Accra High Court has ordered lawyer for the minister to serve the magazine
\nand its editor through their New York address in the United States. <\/p>\n
This follows an application by the lawyer, Gary Nimako, seeking leave of the court to do so. <\/p>\n
Gibril Abdul Razak<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey and Steve Mallory The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, has filed a $20 million libel suit against Africawatch magazine. The action is in respect of a publication titled: \u201cGhana Exclusive: the Inside Story of the Oslo Scandal Conspiracy to Steal, Ayorkor Botchwey\u2019s lies exposed, Nana Akufo-Addo\u2019s defence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":654486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-654485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\n
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