A LEGAL action brought against Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the 2012 New Patriotic Party (NPP) Presidential Candidate, by Justice Francis Yaonasu Kpegah, has been struck out by an Accra Motions Court. The case of Justice Kpegah, who was reeling in pain as he was supported to the courtroom, was thrown out for lack of evidence.
The retired justice’s action, according to the court, was vexatious, unmeritorious and frivolous.
The court, presided over by Justice Cecilia Hanson Sowah, struck out Justice Kpegah’s case in which he was suing Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for impersonation of a certain William Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo when it ruled on a preliminary objection raised in the case by lawyers for the NPP candidate.
The trial judge indicated in the ruling that the retired Supreme Court justice failed to plead facts to the allegation in order to get a grounded case.
However, in this instance, Justice Kpegah did not provide any fact or detail of the said WAD Akufo-Addo he was alleging that the NPP candidate was impersonating.
According to Justice Sowah, if the retired Supreme Court judge had done a diligent search, he would have found out that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is the one and the same person as WAD Akufo-Addo, who is in the roll of lawyers as Number 1190 and called to the bar on July 8, 1975 after stating that “it is a person who is called to the bar and not a name”.
The judge, who observed that the plaintiff had not challenged the fact that Nana Addo Dankwah and WAD Akufo-Addo refers to the same person, quizzed the basis on which the allegation stood.
Justice Sowah, therefore, agreed with the lawyers of Nana Akufo-Addo that the action was frivolous and vexatious and accordingly dismissed it.
Justice Sowah had earlier disagreed with Nana Akufo-Addo’s lawyers that Justice Kpegah was in the wrong forum as far as the application was concerned.
According to the lawyers, all matters governing legal practice were spelt out in the Legal Profession Act, Act 32 and therefore the proper forum the plaintiff needed to go first should have been the General Legal Council, where such matters are addressed before any further action.
The judge said the High Court had the jurisdiction to hear the matter and, therefore, was at a proper forum.
Justice Kpegah, who was missing in action on April 23, 2013 when the matter was first called yesterday, appeared in court as early as 8:00am waiting for the matter to be called.
When the case resumed at about 9:15am, the judge disclosed that Justice Kpegah, who had indicated earlier that he was representing himself, had appointed a lawyer in the person of David Annan to defend him.
David Annan per his letter to the court as the new solicitor for Justice Kpegah requested that the matter be stood down for an hour since he was before another court.
Frank Davies, the lead counsel for Nana Addo, prayed the court to proceed with its ruling after describing the letter as an abuse of the court processes.
“The matter is for ruling today, my lord. Our application to strike out the case was argued extensively on April 23, 2013 and the court adjourned the matter to today for its ruling. The plaintiff was represented by Mr. Daniel Djentuh, who had the instruction of the plaintiff,” counsel told the court.
The judge, after listening to Mr. Davies, informed Justice Kpegah that she could not oblige him his request because the matter was for ruling and she was ready to deliver it.
The judge further observed that Mr. Annan had filed an affidavit in opposition to the case and wondered how Justice Kpegah was briefed about what happened in court during the previous sitting.
“Mr. Djentuh did not plead for an adjournment because the plaintiff was indisposed but raised a preliminary objection which was overruled because I knew he was ready. After they argued the case and I adjourned for ruling,” the judge said.
While the judge was still informing Justice Kpegah on what transpired that day, Mr. Annan entered and the judge again informed him about what she had earlier said.
Mr. Annan, who still did not want to concede, informed the judge that his information was that the matter was for hearing, that was why he so wanted to be heard.
According to him, after the case was adjourned, Justice Kpegah was served with a supplementary affidavit, and for that matter, he had filed the response to it raising very serious grounds.
The judge, however, refused his request after Mr. Davies argued that the court was a court of record which would vindicate their stand that the application had been argued to its fullest and was for ruling.
Counsel also denied serving Justice Kpegah with a new affidavit.
Hot Exchanges
The proceedings yesterday were characterised by hot exchanges from Counsel for Justice Kpegah and that of Nana Akufo-Addo. The arguments became heated after Godfred Yeboah Dame, one of the lawyers for Nana Akufo-Addo, prayed for cost of GH¢20,000 against Justice Kpegah for wasting their client’s time.
David Annan objected to this stating that the defendant did not deserve any cost and that a cost was not a commodity that could easily be bought from the market.
This statement pushed Mr. Davies on to his feet to strengthen their prayer for cost as well as pray that Mr. Annan show decorum at the bar. The judge agreed that there should be decorum but said she would not grant costs.
When Justice Sowah was about to rise, Mr. Davies stated that he wanted to draw the court’s attention to certain scandalous statement being made on radio and social networks against Nana Addo.
The judge cut in and said she had finished with her work and would not award cost but Mr. Davies could channel his grievance to the General Legal Council, which was an appropriate forum.
When Mr. Davies persisted that he had a duty to protect the image of his client and, therefore, wanted to do so through the court, Mr. Annan interjected saying, “My lord, he has opened the flood gate”.
The judge immediately responded, “He has not opened any flood gate”.
Mr. Annan vociferously stated “he was the one scandalising the plaintiff on radio calling his action childish”.
Visibly angry, Mr. Annan had shouted at Mr. Davies saying, “How dare you” and Mr. Davies responded that “please don’t use such expression on me”.
Copyright © 1994 - 2024 GhanaWeb. All rights reserved.
