Former Minister of Youth and Sports, Dr. Mustapha Ahmed, has been sentenced to seven days imprisonment by the Accra High Court (Financial and Economic Crime Division 2), for contempt of court.
On June 12, 2019, the court in a judgement, granted a perpetual injunction restraining the former minister, then the defendant, from trespassing on the land, but he violated the order.
The court also fined him GH¢12,000 or in default serve 30 days in prison.
If paid, the court presided over by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, ordered that GH¢5,000 out of the fine should be paid to Kofi Ammoah Kwafo, the man, who initiated the contempt application against Dr. Ahmed, the Chief of Defence Staff and the Director-General of Logistics of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF).
The contempt motion originated from a land litigation case, six years ago, in which Dr. Ahmed, a former Member of Parliament for Ayawaso North, sold land to Mr. Kwafo, in the year 2000, and repossessed it with the excuse of having made a mistake.
In the contempt application, the applicant, Mr. Kwafo, attached the Chief of Defence Staff and the Director-General of Logistics because the personnel of the GAF, occupying a property built on the land in dispute resisted execution of the judgment of the court.
Justice Asare-Botwe, who is a Court of Appeal judge, sitting with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, noted in her judgment that both Chief of Defence Staff and the Director-General of Logistics were not personally served with copies of the court land litigation judgment of 2019.
In his affidavit in support and written address, Mr. Kwafo stated that the respondents conducted themselves in a manner as to bring the administration of justice into disrepute by defying the authority of the court.
For instance, the applicant argued that the first respondent, purportedly disposed of the property to the GAF, in 2017, which document was executed in 2018 and the application for registration, therefore, having been made in 2021 when the judgment of the court was already handed down.
Mr. Kwafo said that the officers of the GAF were in contempt of court when they resisted the execution of the judgment of the court.
Mr. Kwafo was represented by Mr. Kwaku Osei Asare as counsel.
Counsel for Dr. Ahmed, Mr. Christopher A. Fynn, in his written submission, stated that his client cannot be found to be in contempt since no evidence had been canvassed to show that he had fallen in breach of any order, direction, or judgment of the court to merit such action.
He denied having backdated the assignment of the sub-matter to the GAF or any other allegation of fraud and stated that this was a ploy to enforce the judgment handed down by the court by a means other than what was prescribed by the rules of court.
The former minister stated that the applicant was deploying an incompetent process in bringing the application to incite the court against him and the other respondents.
The Chief of Defence Staff and the Director of Logistics told the court that there was no evidence of a writ of possession having been properly obtained and served to them as they had not been parties to the suit.
It was their case that posting the judgement on the property and writing to the GAF was not a proper procedure for notifying them of the judgment.
Source: The Ghanaian Times
