An application filed by the Secretary to the Board of Trustees for the botched National Cathedral project, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi, also known as Victor Kusi Boateng, has been thrown out by the Court of Appeal.
The suit sought to restrain Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, from discussing Rev. Kusi Boateng in relation to the National Cathedral project.
This makes it the third time the founder and overseer of the Power Chapel International has lost the suit following two earlier ones at the High Court.
The court, at the Wednesday, June 26, 2024 ruling noted that the grounds of appeal did not comply with the rules of the Court of Appeal.
“The grounds are incompetent and inadmissible,” said the court as it struck out the case.
“The application was against the rules of the Court of Appeal that says the Appalent must clearly state where the judge erred,” the court added, awarding the defendant, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, GHC3,000.00.
Having failed the two previous attempts to restrain the lawmaker at the High Court, Rev. Kusi Boateng’s lawyers furnished the court with further grounds in an attempt to turn the matter in their client’s favour but failed again.
Court of Appeal dismisses objection to newly constituted panel
Prior to declaring the ruling on the substantive matter, the court dismissed an objection raised by lawyers for Mr. Ablakwa on Tuesday, June 25, over the constitution of a new panel to adjudicate the matter.
Lawyer for Mr. Ablakwa, Thaddeus Sory, had indicated that the new panel set up by the Chief Justice was unconstitutional, adding that the panel that began the matter should have finished it.
He alleged that his client was not going to get a fair hearing because Rev. Kusi-Boateng is the spiritual father of the Chief Justice. “The Plaintiff has an affinity with the person who constitutes the panel,” he stated.
The lawyer further alleged in open court that the High Court judge who dismissed the contempt application by Rev. Kusi Boateng has since been transferred from Accra to Sunyani and then to Bolgatanga.
However, Kusi Boateng’s lawyer, Bobby Banson, described the claims by Thaddeus Sory as false. Mr Banson argued that the allegations were based on hearsay and not grounded in law.
This assertion was subsequently upheld by the court, indicating that lawyers for the MP had no evidence to support their claims, describing the allegations as “speculative innuendo.”
The objection was subsequently dismissed.
Background
The North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa who had raised several issues of impropriety and infractions regarding the construction of the National Cathedral, accused Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng of engaging in conflict of interest as Secretary to the board of Trustees of the project.
In January 2023, he subsequently petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate him for conflict of interest and possession of multiple identities and other alleged criminal dealings.
The petition also alleged that there was a transfer of GH¢2.6million cash from the National Cathedral Secretariat to JNS Talent Centre Limited owned by Rev. Kusi-Boateng under his secondary identity, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.
Mr Ablakwa’s petition is seeking to invoke the mandate of CHRAJ under Article 218 of the 1992 Constitution to investigate the “odious conflict of interest” with regard to Rev. Kusi Boateng’s position on the National Cathedral board as he “literally paid his own company a staggering GH¢2.6 million for no work done”.
Suits
Rev. Kusi Boateng subsequently filed a defamation suit against Mr Ablakwa and followed it up with a contempt application, accusing the legislator of refusing to be served with the defamation suit.
He applied for an order to enforce his human rights seeking to prevent the MP from further commenting on the subject.
In May 2023, the High Court in Accra dismissed the contempt application on the basis that it was flawed with inconsistencies, was irregular and failed to meet the threshold of the law.
After dismissing the contempt application, the court, presided over by Justice Charles Gyamfi Dankwa, slapped Rev. Kusi Boateng with a cost of GH¢10,000 in favour of the MP.
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