Pastor goes in for 10 months

The Reverend James Asankomah Tandoh of the Church of Nazareth at Takoradi has been sentenced to 10 months' imprisonment for contempt by a Sekondi High Court presided over by Mr Justice S. K. Asiamah.

Rev Tandoh has for the past four years been litigating with his mother, Prophetess Mary over the ownership of the Nazareth Preparatory and Junior Secondary Schools at Lagostown and Apowa, near Takoradi.

He said owing to Rev Tandoh's behaviour of levelling false charges against judges handling the case between him and his mother, the case had gone through the hands of three other judges and with him being the fourth judge.

Justice Asiamah said on January 11, Rev Tandoh filed an affidavit before the court claiming that his mother had sent her lawyer, Mr Ebow Quashie, to influence him (Justice Asiamah) and also accused him of making nocturnal visits to his mother's school at Apowa.

Rev Tandoh's affidavit further claimed that the personnel of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) were investigating Justice Asiamah on his alleged corrupt practices.

The Judge said while the affidavit was pending for hearing, Rev Tandoh released a copy of the affidavit to the "Dispatch" newspaper, which published it in its February 4 edition.

Justice Asiamah said when the court sat to determine the affidavit and Rev Tandoh was called upon to substantiate the allegations but he could not do so. Rev Tandoh explained that he never saw Mr Quashie going to the Judge's residence or going to his mother's house but was informed by some people he could not identify.

At this juncture, Justice Asiamah invoked the High Court Civil Procedure Records Order 38, section three and said ''the fabrication tends to attack, scandalise and threatens me.

"If the courts would not use their authority or power to stamp out malicious fabrications, the country would lose, as foreign investors would fail to come and invest in the country."

Meanwhile, the Editor of the Dispatch that published the allegations has apologised to the Judge and the court for the embarrassment the publication might have caused him. He promised to publish an apology in the next issue of the "Dispatch".