Details have surfaced regarding the alleged defamatory statements contained in Professor Ivan Addae-Mensah’s autobiography titled “My Life,” sparking a potential legal battle.
The renowned academic finds himself at the center of controversy as lawyers representing Mr. William Edem Fugar, a prominent legal practitioner, issue a demand notice expressing deep concerns over false statements made in the book.
In the demand notice addressed to Professor Addae-Mensah, lawyers raised objections to statements in the autobiography, specifically concerning Mr. Fugar’s involvement in a legal case.
The notice challenges Addae-Mensah’s assertion that Fugar abandoned a case, resulting in its dismissal.
Quoted Publication from Page 415 of the book reads
“forward as party chairman and presidential candidate respectively.
They argued in their statement of claim that since Egala could not be elected as a member of parliament, he could not be a party Chairman either.
They also contended that Limann’s nomination by the central committee was without authority. But the question was whose authority? The party’s constitution clearly mandated the Central Committee to nominate and vote for a candidate to be later presented to congress. Hearing of this second suit was set for April 9th. Alhaji Egala was represented by lawyer J.K. Offeh.
At the first hearing the case was fixed for further hearing on April 17 by the presiding Judge Justice Cecilia Koranteng Addow,? who accepted counsel’s argument for early hearing.
She said that since 23rd April was the closing date for presidential and parliamentary candidates to file their nomination papers, equity, natural justice, and good conscience required that the case be heard before 23rd April.
She asked counsels for the plaintiffs and defendants to file their pleadings by the date of hearing. But the plaintiffs did not abide by the court’s order.
Counsel for the plaintiffs, Mr Willie Fugar abandoned the case and his clients on 11 April. The case was therefore thrown out when it came up for hearing on 17th April.
Interestingly, on 18 April, the candidate who was supported by Botsio and others against Limann, Dr R.P. Baffour, probably sensing that attempts to use the courts to get him the PNP nomination had failed, announced that he was going to contest the presidential elections as an independent candidate.
The court case had left the party very few days to get organised, have a congress to nominate its candidates and meet the deadline of 23rd April for candidates to file their nominations. Fortunately, there had been serious planning behind the scenes to meet any eventualities.
The extraordinary national congress in Kumasi eventually took place during the weekend of 20th to 22nd of April 1979. Even though Limann was the sole candidate for the Presidential Candidacy, the Central Committee had decided that there should still be a secret ballot, so that anyone who still had a dissenting view about his”
It is based on this that the lawyers of William Fugah contend that the referenced case, Pennie & Another v Egala & Another, reported in the Ghana Law Reports of 1980, contradicts Addae-Mensah’s claim.
The judgment, delivered by Cecilia Koranteng-Addow J. on April 20, 1979, reportedly ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, and an injunction was issued against the second defendant.
The demand notice accuses Professor Addae-Mensah of causing damage to Mr. Fugar’s longstanding reputation as a legal practitioner of high repute, both nationally and internationally. The lawyers state that the false imputations have portrayed Fugar as a negligent and carefree lawyer, tarnishing his professional standing.
The notice demands a retraction of the defamatory statements from the autobiography and an unqualified apology to Mr. Fugar within seven days.
Furthermore, the lawyers call for the publication of the retraction and apology in two editions each of the Daily Graphic and the Ghanaian Times. They also insist on a credible plan to remove copies containing the alleged defamatory content from circulation.
Failure to comply with these demands within the stipulated time frame, as per the notice, may lead to legal action against Professor Addae-Mensah, the publishers of the book, and other parties involved in the book’s circulation.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com