The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors, Senyo Hosi, is demanding his day in court in a defamation case he brought against the MP for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong.
This follows a decision by a High Court in Accra to strike out the case for want of prosecution.
Mr. Hosi’s lawyers have filed an affidavit and a writ requesting the re-listing of the case, pointing out that Mr. Agyapong’s lawyers have failed to attend several hearings and that the court rather took the decision to strike out the case on the one day that Mr. Agyapong’s lawyers showed up in court.
“The record of the Honourable Court will show that Plaintiff/Applicant has diligently prosecuted this suit over the entire period with Counsel attending court at every adjourned date and never once defaulting in complying with any order or direction of the Honourable Court,” Mr. Hosi’s lawyers said in their affidavit.
“That this Honourable Court as now differently constituted may upon examination of the record discover that Defendants/Respondents have been overly indulged and are largely to blame for the delay this case has witnessed over the period. That for a year or more Defendants/Respondents had neglected to deliver their amended Statement of Defence prompting several warnings from the Honourable Court and Counsel for Plaintiff/Applicant would be highly commended by the Honourable Court for actions including placing phone calls to Counsel for Defendants/Respondents when absent, adjourning the case and issuing hearing notices and even waiving cost when the Honourable Court was minded to award costs.”
Mr. Hosi filed the defamation case against Kennedy Agyapong after the Assin Central MP accused the CBOD CEO of bribery. Mr. Agyapong claimed that Mr. Hosi had paid a one-million-dollar bribe to a former CEO of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST), Alfred Obeng, to influence the reversal of a contaminated fuel sale by BOST to two companies.
BOST’s sale of five million litres of off-spec fuel generated media discussions, forcing the then Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, to set up a committee to investigate the circumstances under which the fuel was contaminated and later sold.
In his suit filed in July 2017, Mr. Hosi was demanding damages to the tune of GHC5,000,000 against Kennedy Agyapong and GHC3,000,000 against Kencity Media, a media company owned by Mr. Agyapong.
The case is expected to be re-listed on July 26, 2021.
