Don’t Spare NPP’s Wontumi …Supporters Appeal To Ibrahim Mahama

Some supporters of Mr Ibrahim Mahama are appealing to him not to truncate the legal process of the defamation suit he brought against the opposition New Patriotic Party’s (NPP), Mr Bernard Antwi Boasiako a.k.a. Wontumi. They are asking Mr Mahama to allow the legal battle between him and the Ashanti regional chairman of the NPP to go the full hog, as they believe he will win and that will expose a grand agenda by the NPP to falsely accuse President John Dramani Mahama, his family members and government appointees as corrupt. They consider Mr Wontumi as a loose-talker who must not be spared on this occasion.

The call, which is trending on social media, especially facebook, is as a result of a recent publication on myjoyonline captioned, ‘Beg us to reconsider defamation suit; Ibrahim Mahama's lawyer tells Chairman Wontumi’ and shared by many including one Belinda Yesutor Adadevoh, on her wall with a comment by her which reads: “Pls no mercy for him .........”

This was followed by an avalanche of comments from other persons who were obviously surprised about the current development.

The comments, some of which we quoted below, could tell the level of disappointment among Mr Ibrahim Mahama’s supporters and the NDC fraternity as a whole following his lawyer, Mr Charles Zwennes’ attempt to offer an olive branch to NPP’s Wuntumi for a possible out of court settlement. This does not seem to have gone down well with many who wish to see the case travel its full length, with the hope that a victory by Mr Ibrahim will go a long way in exposing NPP’s deliberate falsehoods against the Mahamas and the NDC government.

Cecilia Atsiatorme wrote: “Please NO Mercy ooooooo,” ostensibly in expressing her disappointment at the news which indicates that yet again, another NPP person is on the verge of being left off the hook in an NDC related case, something which never happens when the shoe is on the other foot.

Comment after comment portrayed similar sentiments.

Another comment had this to say, “NDC and their magnanimity towards these wicked NPP characters. They will let this loose-talking wuntumi guy walk free eventually.

As Kweku Makossa also stated “Another KWASIA BI NTI in the making,” Efo Agbelengor on his part stated, “Beg for WHAAAT? Come again!!”

Also disagreeing with Mr Charles Zwennes’ gesture towards NPP’s Wuntumi, Albert Aryee-Patson had this to say. “His lawyer says they are ready for litigation so let it be,” while Sebastian Bakari Combert also wrote: “He will learn from this.”

Joyonline story
Beg us to reconsider defamation suit; Ibrahim Mahama's lawyer tells Chairman Wuntumi

Charles Zwennes, Lawyer for Ibrahim Mahama is asking Ashanti Region Chairman of the NPP Bernard Antwi Boasiako to apologise for defamatory comments made against the President's brother.

Mr Mahama filed a defamation suit against the NPP kingpin for some wild allegations made, but the case was adjourned on Thursday because the judge was indisposed.

Shortly after the adjournment, Charles Zwennes told Joy News a simple apology could be a starting point to end what could potentially be a long drawn battle.

"There is a good old saying that the word sorry does a lot to mend the broken heart and [in] the wisdom of our leaders within our society whom we have a great amount of respect for, when you say sorry it makes you a bigger man than when you decide not to say sorry," he said.

Atta Adu Poku, Lawyer for Antwi Boasiako said they are open to a negotiated settlement but are ready for litigation as well.
The case has been adjourned to 14 January 2015.

The case
Mr Ibrahim Mahama, in his initial statement of claim to the Fast Track High Court in Accra, in his defamation suit against NPP’s Chairman Wuntumi, claims that the defendant made defamatory statements against him at a public gathering in Obuasi on March 30 this year.

He is demanding amongst other things, GH₵5 million cedis damages from the NPP regional chairman.

In the statement of claim, the offending statement claimed that, “President Mahama and his brother Ibrahim have loaded all the money into their pockets. Each and every day they increase petrol prices and then you and I, the downtrodden, suffer to pay for the increases – they keep the monies in their pockets, and use it to buy planes – aeroplanes – in which they fly. Each week, President Mahama and his brother, Ibrahim, travel to South Africa. You, my brother, the monies President Mahama has given to his brother, - have you got any? Does someone pay for your children’s school fees?”

The plaintiff said, the large gathering which Chairman Wontumi was addressing understood his comments to mean that he (Ibrahim Mahama) “is a thief and a dishonest man with criminal tendencies.”

Aside the huge claims, Mr. Mahama is also praying the court to “compel the defendant to publish a full an unqualified apology to the Plaintiff and retraction of the statements made in all the newspapers and tabloids in which the defamatory statements were repeated by their publication of the same.”

Wuntumi’s layer
A lawyer and member of the Communication team of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Yaw Adomako Baafi told Citi FM, an Accra-based private radio station that claims that Wontumi made defamatory comments against Ibrahim Mahama are untrue.

In his opinion, Mr. Boasiako comments were “innocuous and harmless,” stressing that “Ghanaians are not kids, we are all aware of things that have been going on under Mahama’s administration for the past six years.”

Manhyia handshake
Reports have it that the Asantehene Otumfuor Osei Tutu II, during the Akwasidae festival “engineered” a handshake between Ibrahim and Wontumi in a bid to ensure peace. But that did not prevent the two of them from meeting a few days after at the Kumasi High Court 7, where the legal battle had begun.

Stark belief
Supporters of the NDC starkly believe that wild allegations of corruption spewed by prominent NPP persons against members of the Mahama family and appointees of the NDC government are orchestrations from the lying chamber of the opposition NPP. That is the reason they look forward to sharing in Mr Ibrahim’s feasible victory in his suit against NPP’s loose-talking Wuntumi.

Source: The Catalyst Newspaper