What Kwaku Azar said about use of state lawyers in personal defamation cases

Legal scholar and good governance advocate, Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, has described as “surprising” the decision by former COCOBOD Chief Executive Officer, Randy Abbey, to use state legal resources to pursue a personal defamation suit.

According to him, the move contradicts Abbey’s long-standing advocacy of accountability and good governance.

Barker-Vormawor weighs in on Randy Abbey's failed defamation case against Abronye

Commenting on a High Court ruling that dismissed Abbey’s defamation action against Bono Regional NPP Chairman, Kwame Baffoe Abronye, Prof Asare said the case raises serious questions about consistency between public advocacy and personal conduct.

“It is difficult not to express surprise that a well-known advocate of accountability and good governance would find himself here,” Prof Asare noted in his commentary on the ruling on January 22, 2026.

Kwaku Azar noted that the court’s decision highlights the need for public figures who champion good governance to practice the same restraint they demand of others, especially where personal interests are involved.

“Good governance advocacy is not rhetorical. It is performative. Those who preach restraint in public power must themselves be exemplary, especially when personal interests are implicated,’ he stressed.

The High Court, presided over by Justice Halima El-Alawa Abdul, dismissed the suit on the grounds that it was procedurally defective.

The court stated that defamation is a personal tort and that Abbey, having sued in his personal capacity, could not properly rely on the Legal Department of COCOBOD to prosecute the case when the institution itself was not a party.

In its ruling, the court found that a public institution’s legal department cannot be used to pursue a private reputational claim, adding that the proper course would have been for the plaintiff to retain private legal counsel.

On the back of this, Kwaku Azar said the ruling throws into sharp relief the expectations placed on public office holders who speak loudly about accountability and the proper use of state power.

“When public resources are casually pressed into private service, the rule of law is not loudly broken; it is slowly eroded,” he added.

How a COCOBOD lawyer made a judge dismiss Randy Abbey’s case against Abronye

The defamation suit arose from comments allegedly made by Abronye concerning Abbey’s performance as CEO of COCOBOD.

Although the case was brought in Abbey’s personal capacity, it was initiated through COCOBOD’s Legal Department, a move the court ultimately rejected.

MAG/EB

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