The Accra High Court yesterday ordered Oliver Mawuse Barker-Vormawor, the Defendant in a ten million (10,000,000) defamation suit brought on by the National Security Minister, Albert Kan Dapaah, to file his Witness Statements within two (2) weeks.
The case was adjourned to 19 April, 2024 for the hearing of the Defendant’s Motion to Strike out the National Security Minister’s pleadings or for Case Management Conference
Earlier, on 12 February this year, the former convener of ‘The Fix the Country Group’ filed a ‘Request To Admit Facts’(published at page 10), requiring of Kan Dapaah to admit for the purposes of what he says was for the court action only; some seventeen statements.
Lawyer for the National Security Minister, Bright Okyere Adjekum, however refused to admit the statement “on the basis of National Security Confidentiality and his Oath of Secrecy.”
As it stands, the Plaintiff has filed his witness statements in compliance with the court order, but the Defendant has not filed their witness statements.
It would be recalled that the Minister of National Security sued Mawuse Oliver Barker-Vormawor, over an attempted bribery allegation made against the minister.
Mr. Barker-Vormawor in an interaction with the media on the sidelines of the Occupy Jubilee House protest had alleged that at a meeting between him and the National Security Minister, Albert Kan-Dapaah, he was offered $1 million by the Minister in an attempt to get him to stop his activism.
After the National Security Ministry released a statement to debunk the allegation on Friday, Oliver Barker-Vormawor in a television interview with Joy News said he is ready to release an audio, and that he recorded the said meeting where the offer was made.
“I will release an audio into the public domain, which would confirm that the Minister invited me to a secret safe house location, that we should have an individual meeting between him and myself, at which meeting he made that offer to myself. No other FixThecountry convener was involved there,” Oliver Barker-Vormawor said.
It is following this that Mr Kan-Dapaah on Tuesday, September 26, filed the law suit.
In the writ of summons filed by Mr Kan-Dapaah’s lawyers, the Minister is seeking a declaration that the words uttered by the Barker-Vormawor and particularized below or words to that effect were Defamatory of the Plaintiff.
“They went as far as offering us US$1 Million, they offered us a Committee Appointment, set up a Committee and appoint us to Government positions in order to stop this activism. This was made directly to me and other leaders of fix the Country Movement.”
“This conversation we had with the Minister of National Security, the Minister of Finance and a Brigadier General at a safe home.”
He also wants the recovery of the sum of Ten Million Ghana Cedis (GH¢10,000,000.00) as General Damages including Aggravated and/ or Exemplary Damages for Defamation for the words uttered by Defendant.
In addition to that, he wants a perpetual injunction restraining Barker-Vormawor from repeating similar or other defamatory words against the Plaintiff and costs as well.
The minister is further praying the court to order Oliver to render an apology for and retraction of the words complained of.
