How Sammy Gyamfi reacted to ¢500k damages granted against him
The National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, says he will contest a court ruling that ordered him to pay a total of GH¢550,000 in costs and damages.
Mr Gyamfi was slapped with a defamation suit by the Member of Parliament for Manhyia South, Matthew Opoku-Prempeh alias NAPO in 2019 after he made comments which linked the lawmaker to a kidnapping.
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Aside from the costs and damages awarded by the court against him today, Mr Gyamfi has also been ordered to publish a retraction and an apology for his defamatory comments.In a Facebook post on Thursday, the spokesperson of the largest opposition party in the country said he was of the opinion that the court erred in its decision to rule against him.
He said his "lawyers will be filing a notice of appeal and an application for stay of execution to challenge the decision of the High Court forthwith".
Below is a copy of the statement Sammy Gyamfi posted on Facebook;
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 cost of GH50,000.00 against me.
It is my considered view that the honorable 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 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 first instance and not final. I am determined to pursue this matter to its logical conclusion.
The struggle continues.
