Charlotte Osei sues lawyer Opoku-Agyemang for defamation
The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs Charlottle Osei has sued lawyer Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang for defamation.
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In a suit filed on Tuesday July 25, 2017, Mrs Osei is asking the court to direct Mr Opoku-Agyemang to retract comments deemed defamatory and made in relation to the petition sent to the presidency asking for impeachment proceedings against her and apologise for same.
Mr Opoku-Agyemang, on behalf of some “concerned staff” of the Electoral Commission has sent a petition to the President asking for impeachment proceedings to be initiated against Mrs Osei for misconduct and conflict of interest.
In the suit, a copy of which has been seen by Graphic Online, Mrs Osei is seeking
i. A declaration that the statements that Plaintiff [Mrs Osei] is "managerially and administratively inept" because Plaintiff has no respect for the organisational structure of the Electoral Commission, "has poor human relations not befitting of any leader in public space", has "unilaterally transferred District Electoral Officers perceived to be pro-NPP", "...polarized the Commission along political lines" and disunited its members out at paragraphs 11, 12, 13, 20, 21 and 26 of the petition attached to Defendant's letter conveying the petition to his Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana are defamatory of Plaintiff.
ii. A declaration that the statements that Plaintiff "has constituted herself into the Commission's Tender Review Committee contrary to the Procurement Act", "unilaterally awarded a contract of about $25,000 to a South African company...to change and re-develop the Commission's logo under the guise of rebranding..." set out at paragraphs 6, 18, 23, 27 of the petition attached to Defendant's letter conveying the petition to His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana are defamatory of Plaintiff.
iii. A declaration that the statements that Plaintiff nearly pushed Ghana "to the precipices" by her "political posture" prior to the conduct of the 2016 General Elections, has a political bias and prejudice against Ghanaians who support the New Patriotic Party (NPP) by antagonizing the "NPP prior to the 2016 general elections brought embarrassment to the Commission" through her arrogant posture set out at paragraphs 3, 4, 14, 19 of the petition attached to Defendant's letter conveying the petition to his Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana are defamatory of Plaintiff.
iv. A declaration that the statements that Plaintiff “has been engaging in cronyism by awarding contracts to the tune of $14,310,961.00 to her cronies” the value of which contract sums exceed the approved threshold of the PPA the details of which statements are set out at paragraph 8 of the petition attached to Defendant’s letter conveying the contents of the petition to His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana are defamatory of Plaintiff.
v. General damages for libel against Defendant for publishing and or causing to be published the aforesaid words of and concurring in Plaintiff.
vi. An order of the Honourable Court directed at the Defendant to publish a retraction and an apology with the same prominence as the defamatory words on his Facebook page as well as one publication in the Daily Graphic.
vii. An injunction restraining the Defendant whether by himself, his servants or agents or otherwise from authorizing permitting and/or causing to be published the same or similar words defamatory of the Plaintiffs.
viii. Costs including lawyer’s fees.
