IDEG boss suspects foul play in marital row

The Executive Director of the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), Dr Emmanuel Akwetey, suspects foul play in a case in which he was arrested and granted a self recognisance bail for depriving his wife and children shelter.

He told Myjoyonline.com his wife, Dr Mrs Sylvia Akwetey, to whom he is in a divorce process with, is up to mischief by resuscitating a case which has long been struck out of court.

Mrs Akwetey in September 2, 2011 filed a complaint with the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) accusing her husband of depriving her and two children shelter, and conducted himself in a manner that made them feel constantly unhappy, miserable, humiliated and depressed.

According to her, on her return to Ghana from London on September 2, 2011 the husband failed to open the gate to their Dome Pillar 2 residence despite several calls and appeals for him to do so.

In a suit she filed against Dr. Akwetey, she told the court the husband left her together with their two children outside in the night and at the mercy of the weather, an action that left them traumatised.

The case she filed in 2011, according to Dr Akwetey, has since been struck out for want of prosecution.

The IDEG boss in an interview with Myjoyonline.com was surprised about the decision to resuscitate the case.

He confirmed being granted a self recognisance bail on Tuesday, but said the case has no merit, and it is part of a plot to blackmail him as well as stall the divorce process which has been on for the past three years.

According to him, the plot was to discredit him and to create an erroneous impression in the public's eye that he is an "irresponsible father".

On the contrary, Dr Akwetey said he is living happily with his two children and caring for them in the same house.

He said he would not yield to any blackmail and will fight the case at the law court to clear his name.

The case has been adjourned until January 29, 2014