The Tamale District Court has ordered the Plaintiffs in the case in which they have dragged former presidential candidate of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Dr. Foster Abu Sakara, to Court over debts to file their witness statements.

The directive was after the Magistrate, His Worship Derrick Annan (Esq) held that the defendant (Dr. Abu Sakara) had failed to sign an out-of-court settlement agreement he proposed to the court over a month ago.

Following that, the Court ordered the plaintiffs to file their witness statements by July 15, 2024.

The Magistrate also warned the defendant that if he failed to show up on the next adjourned date, the court would proceed with the matter.

Counsel for the defendant Paul K. Chinatra(Esq) told the court his client could not be reached for the past one week leading to the delay in the authorisation and signing of the proposed agreement with a plea to the court for an extra week.

However, the presiding magistrate, His Worship Derrick Annan (Esq) disagreed with the defendant’s lawyer’s request for an extra week adjournment for the signing of the proposed agreement.

The Court described the failure to sign the proposed agreement as “unexplainable and unexpected” from the defendant, who should have signed the debt repayment agreement in his interest without a directive.

The Magistrate, unhappy with the conduct, directed the plaintiffs to file their witness statements before the next sitting for the case to proceed.

His Worship Derrick Annan (Esq) noted that since the plaintiffs allowed the defendant to present his debt repayment agreement without objection, it was prudent enough for the defendant to act in good faith looking at the length of time and hardship posed to affected parties.

The case of the Plaintiffs is that the former CPP flagbearer Foster Abu Sakara owes them – Michael Mawunya, a rice breeder, and Abednego Abosore, who operates a rice out-grower scheme over two hundred thousand Ghana cedis for rice seeds supplied to his company in April 2019 under the planting for Food and Jobs initiative by the government.

But, the defendant’s counsel told the court that the delay in payment was also due to the government’s inability to pay for the supply on time.

The plaintiffs’ counsel, Isaac Borrido, in an exclusive interview with GHOne news Northern Regional correspondent, Noah Nash in Tamale, after the court hearing expressed satisfaction with the decision of the court.

The Counsel felt the defendant had acted in bad faith, which has brought a lot of hardship to his clients who had been patient since 2019.

"We have enough evidence against him that the court can rely on for judgment. He admitted to the transaction so the delay is not helping my clients who also have to pay other suppliers,” Isaac Borrido narrated.

He noted that the terms of repayment as proposed by Dr. Abu Sakara were not varied in any way by the Plaintiffs. But Defendant has failed to appear or sign the agreement he himself proposed.

The plaintiffs, per their writ of summons, are further seeking damages for breach of contract and interest on the amount owed from 2019 to the date of final payment.

Information available to GhOne News reporter Noah Nash indicates that Dr. Abu Sakara bought the rice seeds from people including the plaintiffs in this case. He then sold the rice to the government of Ghana through his companies, SAKFOS FARMS AND AGRO-INDUSTRIES LIMITED. However although Dr. Abu Sakara and his companies were paid in full by the government of Ghana under the government’s Planting for Food and Jobs initiative, he failed to pay his numerous suppliers which includes the plaintiffs in this case.

The case has been adjourned to 26 July 2024.