I wish you all a peaceful 1996.

The High Court in Accra has dismissed an appeal filed by the Publisher and Editor of the Free Press, Mr. Tommy Thompson and Mr. Eben Quarcoo, challenging the ruling of a Circuit Court in Accra that the First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings, is justified in law to intiate criminal libel proceedings against them. Mr. Justice R. K. Apaloo, who presided over the High Court said that on the true and proper interpretation of the law, any member of the public can initiate criminal libel proceedings against grounds that the law under which they are charged covers only pulic officers and not any member of the public. And according them since the First Lady isnot a public officer, it is wrong for them to be charged under that law. The prosecutor, Mr. Thomas Ahligah, disagreed on the gounds that though Nana Konadu is not a public officer, she is entitiled as a citizen to take criminal action against the accused. At the end of the arguments, the Circut Court ruled that under ht law of libel, the First lady, li in a libel case. He said never in the history of jurisprudence in Ghana has a private perso ntaken a criminal libel case against another cising cases wher only perosns in official capacity took criminal actions in libellous or defamatory cases, Nana Akuffo-Addo argued that if the first lady felt peeved by the publication, she could seek remedy through civil aciton. Arguing for the defence, Mr. Allijah contended that the law under which the accused persons were charged stated clearly that oany personoe an he ruling of the High Court.