Lawyers for Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) Chief Executive Officer Sammy Gyamfi, Seth Anyaaba and Koko Abotsi, say the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin’s failure to comply with procedural rules rendered his GH¢15 million defamation suit incompetent.
According to Mr Anyaaba, the Member of Parliament failed to endorse the alleged defamatory statement on the writ of summons, a procedural omission that undermined the competence of the action.
“When Afenyo filed his defamation action, we took the view that the writ, which has just been set aside by the court, did not comply with the rules of court, particularly Order 57 (Rule 2), which mandatorily requires that you must endorse the alleged defamatory statements of the defendant on the writ. So we took the view that failure to comply with that rendered the entire action incompetent, and therefore the court should set it aside. Essentially, the court agreed with the argument that we canvassed before it,” they explained.
His explanation follows the High Court’s General Jurisdiction 1 ruling on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, striking out the suit. The court found the writ incurably defective and incapable of properly invoking its jurisdiction.
In reaching its decision, the court relied on Coleman v Newmont concerning the applicable procedural rule and Owusu Domena concerning the need to raise objections promptly. The ruling addressed the validity of the court processes rather than whether the statements complained of were defamatory.
The lawyer explained that the ruling effectively invalidates the suit filed by the Minority Leader.
“What it means is that the action which was instituted by the Afenyo-Markin on 24th August 2026 against Sammy Gyamfi is no more in existence in the sense that it has been set aside and dismissed by the High Court.”
Koku Abotsi, one of the lawyers for Sammy Gyamfi, told Myjoyonline that the team decided against going for costs to be awarded.
He said once their objection has been upheld by the court, that in itself can be described as a victory, although the plaintiff reserves the right to re-file the case.
Mr Afenyo-Markin announced the legal action in Parliament on August 24, 2026, following allegations of extortion made against him during a dispute involving GoldBod and the Bank of Ghana’s Domestic Gold Purchase Programme.
He maintained that the allegations were false and intended to damage his reputation. The suit also named Multimedia Group Limited as a defendant.