Tsatsu Tsikata, a private legal practitioner (plaintiff), has sued Kofi Akpaloo, (1st Defendant) the Presidential Candidate of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG) for defamation.
Mr Akpaloo was joined in the suit with Excellence In Broadcasting (EIB) Network, the owner of GHOne Television (2nd Defendant), as the second defendant for allowing Mr Akpaloo to use its network to make false claims against him.
The Plaintiff in his statement of claim said Mr Akpaloo, the first defendant, in an interview on GHOne on November 19, 2024, as part of his Presidential campaign claimed that the reason Mr Tsikata said in an interview that things were better in the country under President Mahama than currently was that “he was getting contracts under Mahama” and “he was getting the best deals.”
Mr Tsatsu, who served as Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, said Mr Akpaloo further indicated that “those who were getting the goodies” would be the ones saying what Mr Tsikata had said about President Mahama.
The plaintiff said the above-quoted words of Mr Akpaloo about him on GHOne was false and lowered his esteem in the eyes of right-thinking members of the society.
He said in their natural and ordinary meaning the above-quoted statements of Akpaloo published by the GHOne meant, and were understood to mean, that the plaintiff was only making the assessment he made about President Mahama because “he was getting contracts under Mahama”, “he was getting the best deals” and he was among “those who were getting the goodies” under form President Mahama.
Mr Tsikata said in their natural and ordinary meaning these words portrayed the plaintiff as a person whose views were tainted by sheer self-interest, thus lowering the esteem of the Ppaintiff in the eyes of right-thinking members of the society.
“In their natural and ordinary meaning these words portray the Plaintiff as a person who obtained favours under President Mahama and whose opinion cannot, therefore, be trusted,” he said.
He said the above-quoted words of Akpaloo on the television station of GHOne were egregious falsehoods against him and impacted negatively on his hard-won reputation.
The plaintiff, therefore sought an order of mandatory injunction requiring Defendants to cause to be published similarly to how the defamatory statements were published an apology to him and a withdrawal and retraction of the said words of Akpaloo about him.
He also sought an order of mandatory injunction requiring GHOne 2nd to affix onto the publication of the interview of the Akpaloo above referred to on its website and other social media handles, its apology and the withdrawal and retraction of the false statements of Akpaloo about him.
He also sought punitive costs against Akpaloo.
Source: GNA
