Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, has filed an affidavit in opposition to the contempt of court proceedings brought against him and John Kudalor, the Inspector General of Police (IGP).
Kwadwo Asante Boateng aka Kwadwo Baah Asante, a live stock farmer, had sued the two for failing to execute an order for writ of possession over parcels of land which were the subject of litigation.
The plaintiff, through his lawyer, Frank Davis, wants the court to jail the two for contempt of court following the respondents’ inability to execute the judgement he had secured at a High Court in 2013.
But the minister, in an attempt to purge himself of the charges, said “coupled with my frequent travels outside the jurisdiction, I was unable to deal with this particular matter because, like others, my attention was not drawn to it early.”
He claimed among other things that the said land fell within Katamanso and not Amrahia as the judgement creditor would want the court to believe, adding that it conflicted with Katamanso registered documents.
According to the minister nicknamed Lion, he, together with his Council, strictly scrutinises all applications for police assistance for demolitions.
Davis, in moving the motion, insisted that the minister’s affidavit was laughable, stressing that Afotey had turned himself into an Appeals Court sitting in judgement on an order of the court.
He said Afotey had no discretion in the case except to carry out the order of the court.
According to the lawyer of Baah, for the past three years the minister had failed to execute the order for his client, claiming that Afotey had been carrying out other similar court orders.
Davis contended that the actions of the two were a clear refusal to obey an order of the court, adding that their actions were calculated to obstruct the course of justice.
Sitting continues on April 28.
Statement of Claim
The plaintiff, in a statement of claim in support of the contempt proceedings, among other things, stated that in November 2013, Samuel Boakye-Yiadom, the second Deputy Judicial Secretary, in a letter addressed to the Director-General of the Police Legal Directorate, was asked to detail armed policemen to assist the deputy sheriff officers to execute the court order and instruct the policemen to maintain law and order.
It mentioned that in another letter dated October 1, 2014, DCOP Christian Tetteh Yohuno, the then police regional commander, forwarded a copy of the court order ordering the demolishing of the unauthorised structures to the National Security Coordinator, IGP and Afotey Agbo, advising that “the police have no option than to assist in the execution or else be cited for contempt.”
Kwadwo Baah said even in the face of the lucid and unambiguous terms of the letter, the defendants had, in flagrant and contemptuous rebuff, disregarded the order and that no efforts on his part would compel them to effect the order.
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