Mere denials won't work, provide facts about cash retrievals – Cecilia Dapaah's lawyers tasked

Beatrice Annan, a member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) communications team has questioned the basis of a letter from lawyers for former sanitation minister Cecilia Dapaah, demanding a retraction and apology for misreporting on monies allegedly found at her home.

Annan, speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana show (August 14, 2023) stressed that it was not enough for the lawyers of the former minister to deny the content of the report and not state what the real facts are.

She also stressed that the journalists were under no compulsion to reveal the source of their information except that the minister’s posture of mere denial was not good for herself even in law.

“I have seen the demand letter from Okudzeto and Associates and she must know that she is not a private citizen. Every journalist has his source, once she says what they have put out is false, then she owes us a public duty…

“Journalists don’t have to tell you their source, so if you think that you have one million dollars or the Special Prosecutor did not retrieve 530,000 dollars and two million plus from your bedroom, you just have to come and say that what I have in my bedroom was maybe this or that.

“And so, the figures being put out are false. You can simply not say that you deny. And finally, let me say that in law, mere denial is no denial at all. You must deny by stating your version of the facts. What about the statement is not true?” she quizzed.

The lawyers in a letter to Multimedia Group – operators of Joy FM, Joy NEWs and other affiliates – demanded a retraction and apology for misreporting issues around alleged funds found at Dapaah’s home during a search by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and also in her accounts with a number of local banks.