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The High Court in Accra has given Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), 24 hours to submit a medical excuse to justify his absence in a GH¢20 million defamation lawsuit.
Former Auditor-General Professor Dua Agyeman filed the suit, alleging that Mr. Asiedu Nketia made defamatory remarks in the media, accusing Prof. Dua Agyeman of fabricating audit reports, leading to his dismissal by the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana (ICAG).
Since the case commenced in October 2018, Mr. Asiedu Nketia has not personally appeared in court. He was expected to start his defense on Monday, July 1, but failed to attend, citing illness. Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay, presiding over the case, ordered his lawyers to present a medical excuse to support their claim.
When the case was called on Wednesday, July 3, the defense counsel informed the court that they could not provide the medical excuse due to delays caused by traffic, requesting a short adjournment.
“The person bringing the document is running late due to traffic caused by the weather conditions this morning,” the defense counsel explained, requesting an adjournment to submit the excuse.
Justice Kocuvie-Tay, expressing dissatisfaction with the excuse, stated, “The reasons submitted by the counsel for the defendant are feeble because, despite the weather conditions, the court is present.” She ordered the court clerks to receive the medical report first thing on Thursday, July 4, and adjourned the case to Friday, July 5, 2024.
Background
Prof. Dua Agyeman argues that Mr. Asiedu Nketia’s allegations were baseless and aimed to damage his integrity, dignity, and reputation. The plaintiff claims that on October 2, 2018, the defendant made false and damaging statements on Neat FM, accusing him of producing fake audit accounts in 1983 while at the Audit Service, leading to his ban from auditing by ICAG.
The former Auditor-General is seeking a court declaration that the defendant’s statements were slanderous and defamatory, made without reasonable cause. He requests an injunction to prevent further defamatory publications and demands a public retraction and apology from the defendant. Additionally, Prof. Dua Agyeman seeks GH¢20 million in general and compensatory damages for the harm to his reputation.
