Defamation case: Sammy Gyamfi loses to Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh at the Court of Appeal

The Court of Appeal has refused an application brought by Mr. Sammy Gyamfi praying the Court to stay the execution of a judgment awarded against Mr. Gyamfi which includes the payment of GH¢500,000 in damages and GH¢40,000 as cost for statements defamatory of Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh.

The Appellate court rejected arguments by Mr. Godwin Tameklo seeking to cause it to differ from the view and orders of the High Court which were to the effect that Mr. Sammy Gyamfi, the Communications Director of the opposition National Democratic Congress should pay the amount of GH¢500,000 into court and the cost of GH¢40,000 awarded at the end of the trial.

The actions of Mr. Gyamfi to halt the execution of the decision of the High Court Presided by Charles Gyamfi Danquah J. follows steps by lawyers for Mr.Opoku Prempeh led by the learned Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah to execute the 13th October, 2022 decision of the High Court.

Per the writ of Mr. Opoku Prempeh, the Honourable Minister of Energy and the judgment of the High Court as reported in the 2022 cases of The Law Platform, the words of Mr. Gyamfi in a 2019 Political Press conference linking a suspect of kidnappings to the Respondent Minister of Energy were the materials giving rise to the action for defamation against Mr. Sammy Gyamfi.

Enforcement

Given the ruling of the Court of Appeal, Mr. Gyamfi is under legal obligation to pay the amount of GH¢500,000 and GH¢40,000 to Mr. Opoku Prempeh and is liable to judgment enforcement proceedings at the High Court which has been commenced by lawyers for the Honourable Energy Minister.