Ablakwa vrs Kusi-Boateng: US Mayor, Dr Opoku-Mensah, Kusi-Boateng's brother file witness statement

Three people have filed witness statements for the secretary to the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral of Ghana, Rev Victor Kusi Boateng, in his defamation lawsuit, against the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

Court documents sighted by GhanaWeb indicate that the three persons include the Mayor of the City of Wadley in Georgia, United States of America, Harold Moore; the Executive Director of the National Cathedral of Ghana, Dr Paul Opoku-Mensah and a brother of Kusi Boateng, Samuel Kusi Boateng.

Mayor Harold Moore, in his witness statement, indicated that Rev. Kusi Boateng is a true man of God whom he has known for over a decade.

He said that he was surprised the pastor was referred to as a criminal because he has known him as both Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng and Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.

“The Plaintiff has provided spiritual guidance to me and my family since I have known him. I consider him my spiritual father.

"I have always known the Plaintiff as Victor Kusi Boateng. I have always also known that he identifies himself as Kwabena Adu Gyamfi. I have never had cause to believe that he identifies himself by these two names to deceive any person,” part of this statement reads.

Dr Opoku-Mensah, in his statement, also refuted the allegation that the secretary to the board of Trustees of the National is operating a double identity for criminal purposes.

He also stated that he refuted allegations by Ablakwa that the GH¢2.6 million paid to Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng by the cathedral secretariat was criminal.

“… the GH¢2.6million paid to JNS Talent Ltd was not paid for any work done by JNS Talent Ltd. It was merely a refund of the same amount of money which the Cathedral had received from that company as a short-term financial assistance. I attach the letter requesting the said amount from JNS Talent Ltd as Exhibit G,” he wrote.

The brother of Kusi Boateng, Samuel Kusi Boateng, said that the pastor is only referred to as Kusi Boateng in his pastoral works, and everyone who knows him in his personal life refers to him as Kwabena Kusi Boateng.

He also refuted Ablakwa’s allegations that his brother has multiple state documents, including the National Identification Card (GhanaCard), passport, and Tax Identification Number.

“The Plaintiff does not have multiple passports. The Plaintiff has not evaded his tax obligations. The Plaintiff does not have multiple identity cards.

“The Plaintiff has never used both his names at the same time in any single document, official or unofficial, to suggest that Kwabena Adu Gyamfi is different from Victor Kusi Boateng. The Plaintiff has only 1 Ghana Card Number, which by operation of law, is his only Tax Identification Number,” parts of Rev. Kusi Boateng's brother’s witness statement reads.

Background:

Rev Kusi Boateng, member and Secretary to the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral sued the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, for defamation.

Accra-based Joy News reported late Friday (February 3) that the Plaintiff [Rev Kusi Boateng] in his statement of claim says the lawmaker, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, was engaged in actions he deemed “not only misleading but calculated to injure his reputation.”

The main issue is of Ablakwa's claims that the plaintiff's company JNS Talent Centre benefitted from illegal fund transfers from the National Cathedral Secretariat for no work done.

“The Plaintiff states that the statement published were defamatory and were authored with malice and with the sole intent of reducing him in the estimation of all right-thinking members of society as a corrupt, greedy, morally reprehensible and dishonest Reverend Minister of the Gospel,” portions of the writ indicated.

According to Rev Kusi Boateng, misleading as the claims are, they have enjoyed wide readership and engagement on social media platforms where the MP routinely makes his publications.

He said the MP's actions are thus: “calculated to injure the reputation of the plaintiff in the minds of his family members, his congregation, fellow ministers of the gospel (locally and internationally), well-meaning members of the society, home and abroad."

The writ made the following demands:

a. A declaration that the statements made by the Defendant are defamatory;

b. An order directed at the Defendant to publish on the same platform that he published the defamatory words as well as a full page of the Daily Graphic Newspaper, on six consecutive occasions over a 6 month period, an unqualified retraction and an apology;

c. An order for perpetual injunction restraining the Defendant, his agents, assigns and servants from further publishing any defamatory words against the Plaintiff;

d. General Damages for defamation;

e. Costs; and

f. Any other order(s) as this Honourable Court may deem fit.

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