You can't serve him a writ on his way to Parliament - Magoo defends Ablakwa for kicking court documents

The former Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Suhum, Margaret Ansei popularly known as Magoo, has stated that the Member of Parliament for North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzato Ablakwa, did nothing wrong in rejecting the service of legal documents as captured in a viral video.

According to her, it is against the law for the bailiff to give the said court order to the Member of Parliament while he is performing parliamentary duties or attending parliamentary sessions. She continued that the bailiff is only allowed to serve the latter through the Speaker of Parliament and not directly.

She claimed that the bailiff failed to introduce himself to the lawmaker and that the latter informed the former that he was on his way to perform a parliamentary duty, leading to his refusal of the documents.

She added that it would be unfair for the MP to face legal repercussions for his conduct because that is not how the law specifies serving a lawmaker with writs.

“So, he wouldn’t even know what you’re carrying and looking at this critical issue and the revelations that are coming, anybody can do anything at all. Why do you throw something at him? And you want him to carry it and take it along. Can you imagine? You the bailiff threw something at a Member of Parliament when he had explained to you that, I am not preventing you but do the right thing. I am on my way (to Parliament) and if you’re a bailiff truly, you should know that you should serve him through the Speaker of Parliament.

“What stops him from serving him through the Speaker of Parliament? But rather than throwing the thing at him and you expect him to bend down and take it, who does that?” she said.

Samuel Okudzato Ablakwa, MP for North Tongu was sighted in a viral video kicking an alleged court order filed against him by the secretary of the Board of Trustees for the National Cathedral, Rev Victor Kusi Boateng, seeking a 10-day restraining order from further public publication by Ablakwa.

The viral video captures Ablakwa kicking the said documents on the floor after the bailiff tried to force it into his car.

Reverend Victor Kusi Boateng, who is also known as Kwabena Adu Gyamfi, secured an order of interim injunction against Ablakwa.

The order restrains Okudzeto Ablakwa from publicly sharing any document belonging to Kwabena Adu Gyamfi for the next 10 days.

The MP disclosed this in a tweet shared on Friday, February 3, 2023, stating that he was served the order after his appearance on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana programme on the same day.

Background

The latest corruption exposé on the National Cathedral by Ablakwa, suggested impropriety on the part of Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng.

On January 16, 2023, the MP made some allegations against the clergyman.

In an earlier revelation about the National Cathedral, Okudzeto Ablakwa said a whopping GH¢2.6 million was dished out to a company named JNS Talent Centre Limited.

Further investigations into the alleged payment led to the discovery of one Kwabena Adu Gyamfi as a director of JNS Talent Centre.

Having confirmed the identities of two out of three directors of the centre, Ablakwa dug deeper in a bid to discover the identity of the third director, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.

According to his findings, citing a number of statutory documents, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi was the same as Reverend Kusi Boateng, who has allegedly been operating under the pseudonym Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.



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AM/SARA