COCOBOD Boss prepares NDC organizer in defamation case

General News of Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Source: dailyguideafrica.com

2019-02-19

Ghana's Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) chief executive, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, accused Robert Gyan, organizer of the National Democratic Congress (NDOC) of the Amenfi East constituency, in defamation against him and his wife, Hannah Boahen Aidoo.

The High Court of Sekondi in the Western Region has ruled in favor of COCOBOD today, February 18, 2019.

Not only did the organizer of the NDC lose the case, but he was also inflicted 50 000 GH? General damages and 15,000 GH. He was also sentenced to publicly apologize and withdraw his defamatory remarks against the boss of COCOBOD. and his wife, within 28 days.

The court concluded that Mr. Gyan deliberately spread lies and launched attacks on Mr. Aidoo and his wife during the 2012 general election campaign.

His lawyer was Kodjoga Adawudu, a member of the NDC legal team.

In what was clearly shown to be a planned and coordinated political communication strategy to fabricate lies against Mr. Aidoo, who at the time was standing as a parliamentary candidate for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the constituency of Amenfi Central, DGN Online understands Mr. Gyan participated in radio shows, including on Rivers FM Radio in Wasa Akropong, to badert that Mr. Aidoo had caused financial losses to the state by awarding road construction contracts to his wife while he was minister of the western region.

The plaintiffs, Mr. Boahen Aidoo, and his wife, Ms. Boahen Aidoo, told the court that Gyan, also a member of the NDC's communications team, had defamatory remarks in June, July, and August 2016. by falsely claiming that three construction projects, a) from Ntwetwena to Saa, b) from Adesu to Afransia and c) from Wbada Akropong to Saamang in the constituency of Amenfi Est, had been awarded to his wife, while she had no experience of road construction and the roads deteriorated accordingly.

Aidoo said the same lies were used by Robert Gyan and his NDC colleagues against him and his wife in the 2012 general election.

These damaging claims greatly contributed to the loss of her seat in parliament and tarnished Ms. Aidoo's hard-won reputation as a successful businesswoman.

The roads in question were built by Abasa Construction Company and Archwork Construction.

The plaintiffs asked the court to award them damages in the form of: (a) 50,000 GH damages; (b) an injunction order prohibiting the defendant or his agents from publishing such defamatory remarks against the plaintiffs; (c) recovery of litigation costs; and (d) an order for an unqualified apology and retraction in the same manner as Rivers FM Radio.

The court awarded the plaintiffs the relief sought.