'The court erred!' – Sammy Gyamfi describes GH¢500,000 defamation ruling as 'grave miscarriage of justice'

National Communications Officer of the largest opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, has indicated his resolve to file an appeal to challenge a decision of a High Court that went against him. Sammy Gyamfi was dragged to court by Energy Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh for some wild allegations against his persona. Mr Gyamfi alleged that one of the suspects was arrested in connection with the kidnapping of two Canadian girls in Kumasi, Seidu Yakubu aka. Mba, was his (Dr Prempeh's) errand boy. An accusation Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh sought the court's redress. After three years in court, the General Jurisdiction High Court (12) in Accra, presided over by Justice Charles Gyamfi Danquah on Thursday, October 13, 2022, ruled against the NDC activist, ordering him to pay GH¢500,000 in damages to the Plaintiff, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh. But the ruling has not gone down well with Sammy Gyamfi. He believes that the court “erred” in its judgement and has thus vowed to file an appeal to challenge the decision. “It is my considered view that the honourable court erred as its decision is contrary to the evidence that was put before the court,” he said in his response. Statement of claim In the plaintiff’s statement of claim, he averred that Sammy Gyamfi had greatly injured his positive image by falsely linking him to one Seidu Yakubu, aka ‘Mba’, the alleged ringleader in the kidnapping of the two Canadian girls in Kumasi. The lawyers said the defendant’s statement had dented Napo’s image both in Ghana and abroad, considering the fact that the said statement was widely captured in the media and other electronic platforms. The statement said over his entire public and private life, Napo has led a decent lifestyle worthy of emulation and so Sammy Gyamfi had no justification to link him with miscreants to dent his image. According to him, Sammy Gyamfi, by his statement, intentionally portrayed Napo as a person who supports thuggery, kidnapping and other illegal acts without any proof. Plaintiff’s request Therefore, lawyers for Napo prayed to the court to restrain Sammy Gyamfi and his agents from further making or publishing defamatory words against him. They also urged the court to order Sammy Gyamfi to apologize and retract the defamatory statement with the same prominence the defamatory words received within seven days after the judgment. Read below Sammy Gyami's full unedited response Sometime in 2019, a defamation suit was filed against me by Manhyia South MP and now Minister for Energy, Hon. Matthew Opoku-Prempeh, in relation to a comment made at a press conference I addressed on the three kidnapped Canadian girls in Kumasi. The said press conference was to debunk allegations by some elements in the New Patriotic Party that the said kidnapping incident was masterminded by the National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress, Hon. Samuel Ofosu Ampofo. The specific comment that constituted the basis for the suit was my assertion that contrary to the above allegation, the ring leader of the kidnappers, one Seidu Mba was "alleged to be the errand boy of Matthew Opoku-Prempeh". After three years of litigation, the court today held that the said comment was defamatory and consequently awarded damages of GH500,000.00 and a cost of GH50,000.00 against me. It is my considered view that the honourable court erred as its decision is contrary to the evidence that was put before the court. More importantly, I hold the view that the court’s decision to totally disregard the testimony of my witness, DW1, Mafus Jibril who testified that the said Seidu Mba was in fact the errand boy of Plaintiff and was in his company when he (DW1) was attacked in Manhyia sometime in 2012, constitutes a grave miscarriage of justice. Consequently, my lawyers will be filing a notice of appeal and an application for a stay of execution to challenge the decision of the High Court forthwith. It’s my hope that justice will be served. I am most grateful to my brother and lawyer Edudzi Kudzo Tameklo, and my learned colleagues, Beatrice Annan Esq., Seth Nyaaba Esq. and Gideon Abotsi Esq. who have been representing me in court on this matter. It is worthy of note, that this is only the decision of the court of the first instance and not final. I am determined to pursue this matter to its logical conclusion. The struggle continues. Sammy Gyamfi Esq. You can also watch this episode of People & Places on GhanaWeb TV: