Transport Minister files contempt of court application against editor of “The Law Platform”
The report of thelawplatform.online is false and the court in it ruling did not expressly state any of the claims made by Jonathan Asare
Minister for Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah has filed a contempt of court application against the editor of thelawplatform.online, Jonathan Owusu Asare, a lawyer in private practice, over claims he made in a recent publication on a decision by land court (High Court 8) on 12 June 2024, that Mr Asiamah and his wife used state security to protect their landed property.
In his 12 of June 2024 publication on thelawplatform.online website, Mr Jonathan Owusu Asare wrote as follows; “The Land Division 8 of the High Court on the 12th day of June, 2024 has injuncted the Transport Minister, Hon Kwaku Ofori Asiamah and his wife Wihemina Asiamah from developing a parcel of land situate at the prime Tse Addo residential area.
“The High Court injuncted the Minister and his wife when it ruled on an application brought by one Solace Doe and another who claim ownership of the land and were in possession of the land prior to the alleged trespass by the Minister and are known to the East Dadekotopon Development Trust (EDDT) as the bona fide owners of the land.
“The Minister was represented in court by Messrs Addo & Addo. The applicants were represented by the learned Emmanuel Bright Atokoh of EBA law consult. Prior and during the pendency of the injunction application as upheld by the court, the Minister and his wife who per the injunction application, had police officers and a police vehicle stationed at the piece of land to ward of adverse claimants from disturbing their development of the land.
“The land upon acquisition was a subject of litigation, and the honorable minister claims title from a defendant in the suit. The said defendant, one Huang Ruei who while in court over his title to the land sold off his interests to the Minister who may be deemed to have had constructive notice of the adverse claims over the land prior to his acquisition and effective entry of the land.”
It is the contention of the Transport Minister that the claim by Jonathan Owusu Asare in his story that “prior and during the pendency of the injunction application as upheld by the court, the Minister and his wife who per the injunction application, had police officers and a police vehicle stationed at the piece of land to ward off adverse claimants from disturbing their development of the land,” was never pronounced by the court as stated in the publication.
The report of thelawplatform.online is false and that the court in it ruling did not expressly state any of the claims made in the report by Jonathan Owusu Asare. To that end, Jonathan Owusu Asare, according to the Transport Minister, has acted contemptuous of the court, and he should be found guilty of the same.
In a related development, lawyers for the wife of the Minister for Transport, Mrs Wilemina Asiamah, have filed an appeal against the 12 June 2024, decision by the lands court (High Court 8) which granted an interlocutory injunction against the Minister and his wife from developing a parcel of land situated at Tse Addo residential area in Accra.
It is the case of the transport Minister’s wife that the interlocutory application granted by the court to Solace Doe and Clareit Baiden), against her when she is not a parties to the original suit filed in court clearly shows that the High Court erred by granting the said interlocutory injunction.
According to the notice of Appeal filed by Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo, lawyer for the wife of the Transport Minister on Wednesday, 12 June 2024, at the registry of the Court of Appeal, the Mrs Asiamah is seeking two reliefs. First, that the hearing of the application for interlocutory injunction by the High Court on 12 June 2024 be declared null and void and second, that the whole ruling of the High Court granting application for interlocutory injunction made on 12 June 2024 be set aside.
It is the contention of the Mrs Asiamah that “the trial court erred in law when it heard and granted the application for Interlocutory Injunction filed by Solace Doe and Clareit Baiden and dated 3 May 2024 against her when in fact, she is not a party to the suit pending before the High Court (Land Division).
Again, “the trial court erred in law when it heard and granted Solace Doe and Clareit Baiden’s application for interlocutory injunction dated 3 May 2024 when in fact there was a pending application by the Mrs Asiamah to set aside service of the application for interlocutory injunction.
Additionally, the Transport Minister’s wife contends that the trial court erred in law when it heard and granted Solace Doe and Clareit Baiden’s application for interlocutory injunction when the applicant, Mrs Asiamah, was not and is still not a party to the suit at the time the application was heard and granted. Finally, the Transport Minister’s wife says her right to be heard was breached when the trial court heard and granted Solace Doe and Clareit Baiden’s application for interlocutory injunction constituting a breached of the audi alteram partem rule of natural justice.
Beyond the appeal, Mrs Asiamah’s lawyers have also filed a stay of execution of the interlocutory injunction granted to the applicants and have subsequently petitioned the Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo over what they say is “the irregular manner the presiding High Court Judge granted the interlocutory injunction.
Reporting by Wilberforce Asare in Accra
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