Kennedy Agyapong Suffers Another Blow!
…Over Anas Defamation Case
His Lordship Daniel Mensah, the judge presiding over ace investigative Journalist, Anas Aremeyaw’s defamation case against Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong, yesterday, overruled an objection raised by MP’s lawyer, that the undercover journalist must personally mount the witness box to testify before the court.
In what could be described as another hefty blow, the judge upheld the submissions of lawyer for Anas, Kissi Agyabeng that a party need not testify by himself in order to succeed at the trial. Lawyer Kissi Agyebeng added that he knew of no rule of law which states that a party would succeed in his case only if he personally testified at trial.
Lawyer Kissi Agyabeng, also argued that the standard test in such matters is not whether a party gave evidence at the trial himself but whether a party was able, through whomever, to provide the needed evidence. Thus even if a party did not make himself available at the trial as a witness, provided sufficient evidence was led on his behalf in proof of his case, that person ought not to lose the action on the basis that he himself never testified at the trial.
Lawyer for Kennedy Agyapong raised the objection at the case management conference against to the witness statement filed by the lawful attorney of Anas Aremeyaw Anas. The substance of his objection was that a defamation suit is action that pertains to a specific person and also bothers on character and credibility and as such it is the person alleged to have been defamed that must mount the witness box to testify.
Having raised such objection, the presiding judge, His Lordship Daniel Mensah J heard the viva oral arguments of both lawyers and adjourned for ruling yesterday, May 9 2019.
This is the second attempt that Kennedy Agyapong and his lawyer have failed to thwart the defamation suit against them. What was left after having overruled the objection by Kennedy Agyapong, was for the court to give tentative dates for the trial to commence.
While the lawyer for Anas was pushing for an early date in either the month of June or July for the trial to commence, lawyer for Kennedy Agyapong, strangely, said his diary for June and July was booked and as such prayed the court for the hearing to start in October.
This attracted murmuring in the court and same was seen as attempt by Kennedy Agyapong and his lawyer “running away from the fight” with some wondering whether it is the case that Kennedy Agyapong has no proper defence to the action and therefore beginning to implore delay tactics.
Persons present in the court room were really surprised when Kennedy Agyapong’s lawyer told the court that his diary for June and July is full and therefore would want a date in October for the hearing. This was seen as a clear attempt by Kennedy and his lawyer to stall the suit though the judge obliged them. The case has therefore been adjourned to 9th October, 2019.
Recall that ace investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas suing per his lawful attorney filed a defamation suit against Member of Parliament for Assin Central Kennedy Agyapong. The Tiger Eye PI head whose latest investigative documentary shook the foundation of Ghana football sued the New Patriotic Party member for 25 million cedis for defamatory comments allegedly made by Mr Agyapong.
The suit follows weeks of media attacks by Kennedy Agyapong against the investigative journalist in an attempt to stop him from airing the documentary “Number 12,” Anas’ investigative piece detailing corruption in Ghana football. Many Ghanaians expressed surprise at Mr. Agyapong’s efforts to discredit Anas’ work ahead of the public viewing of the latest documentary, but that was understood after it emerged that Mr Agyapong’s name had been mentioned in that video.
Kennedy Agyapong’s influence compelled Kwesi Nyantakyi to list him as one of the people investors need to pay off to dominate Ghana. It is unclear if Kennedy Agyapong knew about these claims, but his media tirades against Anas led some to believe Kennedy Agyapong was panicking.
Stay tuned
