A lecturer at the University of Winneba has apologized to Deputy Majority Leader, Alex Afenyo-Markin, after authoring and publishing words that defamed the three-term Member of Parliament for Effutu.
Alhassan Salifu Bawah, who heads Procurement & Supply Chain Management at UEW, had written an article that was widely published on social media and in the Supreme Newspaper, where he called the Effutu MP a “miserable crook parading as an MP”.
The offending article was said to have been originally published on a WhatsApp page for lecturers and staff of UEW, and it was widely circulated on other platforms, compelling Afenyo-Markin to file a defamation suit against Mr. Bawah.
Afenyo-Markin’s Suit
In his suit, founded on tort law principles that frown on a person injuring the reputation of their neighbour without lawful or just cause, Afenyo-Markin prayed for four reliefs. He first sought a declaration that the “description of the Plaintiff as ‘a miserable crook parading himself as an MP’ in the article authored by the Defendant, is defamatory and that the publication was actuated by malice aimed at tarnishing” his reputation.
Secondly, he sought an order directing Mr Bawah “to render an unqualified apology to the plaintiff through the same medium the defamatory words were published.”
Thirdly, Afenyo-Markin prayed the Court to grant an “order of perpetual injunction restraining the Defendant from further publishing any defamatory articles against the Plaintiff”.
Finally, he asked the Court to impose “general damages of Five Hundred Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH₵500,000.00) against the defendant”.
In his statement of defence, Mr Bawah, in summary, denied authoring the said article. Arthur Chambers appeared as a lawyer for Mr Afenyo-Markin, whereas Robert Twene appeared as counsel for the defendant.
When the hearing of the case started after both sides had filed the necessary processes in court, Mr Afenyo-Markin took the stand to give his evidence in chief. He used the opportunity to highlight the extent of damage done by the offending article to his reputation, noting it had the potential to undermine his practice as a lawyer and his service to Ghana as a Member of Parliament, and also as a Member of the ECOWAS Parliament, where he is the leader of Ghana’s delegation and chairman of the Agricultural Committee.
Attempts at an out-of-court settlement
Before the presiding judge, Rosemond Adjiri Duodu, a Circuit Court judge sitting as a district magistrate adjourned the sitting to 11 April, asked if the parties could explore an out-of-court settlement of the case. In response, Mr Afenyo-Markin told the court he was not opposed to an out-of-court settlement, provided Mr Bawah would retract the offending words and apologize unconditionally for damaging his reputation without a just cause.
At that sitting, Mr Bawah was not in court. However, his lawyer told the court he would engage with his client for the necessary direction but made it clear his side was equally not against an out-of-court settlement of the matter.
When the case resumed on 11 April 2023, the parties appeared in court but told the magistrate that they had failed to reach an agreement to settle, although they both agreed in principle that the issue could be disposed of without a full trial.
In her response, the Magistrate gave the parties another opportunity to attempt a settlement, especially after the two sides had told the court that they were, in principle, ad idem on settling the matter instead of a full trial.
After some discussions and consultations between the parties, Mr Bawah offered an unconditional apology for a publication he had made about Mr Afenyo-Markin. The apology was accepted by Mr Afenyo-Markin.
Retraction and Apology
Before the apology, Mr Bawah had posted a retraction of the offending publication on the WhatsApp platform he used to circulate the original article. He also brought the retraction to the attention of the Magistrate.
After the apology was made, the parties drafted and co-signed the settlement. The settlement was subsequently filed at the Court’s registry. The parties then returned to formally inform the Magistrate that a settlement had been reached.
The terms of the settlement included Mr Bawah’s unconditional apology, withdrawal of the offending statement, and an undertaking to withdraw the statement from the WhatsApp platform of the University where the statement was originally published. Mr Bawah’s counsel also indicated writing to the Supreme Newspaper, which published the offending article, to draw their attention to the withdrawal of the statement for subsequent publication.
In the spirit of the settlement, Mr Afenyo-Markin withdrew the suit he had filed against Mr Bawah, and there was no order as to cost. The parties agreed that the terms of the settlement would be adopted as a consent judgment between them. The court accordingly accepted the settlement and delivered an appropriate consent judgement on the same.