FIRST LADY SUES FREE PRESS

THE First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings has filed a writ at an Accra High Court seeking aggravated and/or exemplary damages from the Editor and publishers of the Free Press, an Accra weekly newspaper, for a libellous story carried in the January 30-5th February edition of the paper.

She is also seeking a perpetual injunction restricting the defendants from further printing, publishing or circulating the offending article or similar one.

A statement of claim filed on behalf of the First Lady by Trans Legal Consult, an Accra legal firm, said the article under reference was titled: "No Tears for Konadu".

In the said story, the Free Press sought to equate well-dressed Ghanaian women to prostitutes and generally sought to portray the First Lady in a negative light.

Since the publication of the story, it has raised a flurry of indignation from various sectors of the society.Last Thursday, a group of women went on a protest march in Accra to register their disapproval of the story.The Ghana Journalists Association has also issued a statement to the effect that the matter has been referred to the Ethics Committee of the association while the National Media Commission has issued a statement registering its strong reservations.