The National Executives of the Ghana National Association of Small-Scale Miners (GNASSM) have taken legal action against three ex-association members for slander and defamation.
According to the summons, the plaintiff is pressing legal charges against the defendant for making public comments that are untrue and the publication of the same in some media outlets that have slandered and defamed their image, rendering them vulnerable to public ridicule.
The plaintiff hereby represented by the GNASSM President, Philip Kwasi Akuffo, vice-president, Sampson Wiredu, and Secretary, Godwin Nii Armah, believes that the defendants in persons of Philip K. Bawah, Daniel Kwaku Mensah (DKM), and Yaw Amoafo, who are former members of the association of small-scale miners, have gravely damaged their image in public and must be held responsible for their actions by the competent court of law.
The association’s leadership has described as defamatory, the publication of various allegations against them, accusing them of lack of accountability, exploiting the rank and file for personal gains, allocating some concessions designated for national distribution to certain executives and exhibiting unprecedented levels of greed and corruption.
The joint writ filed at a Kumasi high court and issued by the lawyer for the plaintiff, in the person of Nana Akwasi Osei Bonsu Esq., is seeking the law court to analyse the evidence presented and hold the defendants accountable with equitable reliefs.
The plaintiff seeks the court for an apology from the defendant, publication of a rejoinder on the various media outlets where the defamatory publications were made, as well as damages amounting to GH₵500,000 from each person.
In the writ filed on June 25, 2024, the plaintiffs alleged that the publication by the defendants on various media outlets was not only false, malicious and reckless but also intended to open the plaintiffs to public scorn, hatred and reduce them in the eyes of right-thinking members of the society.
They are also, therefore, praying the court to: “Order the defendants to publish on three consecutive occasions on the same platforms where the defamations were made, a retraction and apology with the same prominence as given to the issuance of the defamatory words made against the plaintiffs.
“We also seeking an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, their agents, assigns and servants from further publishing any defamatory comments about the plaintiffs and further costs covering legal fees.”
At an emergency extraordinary General Meeting of GNASSM, held on the 25th of June 2024, it was alleged that the three defendants had formed an association that was not functioning and had failed to attract members, therefore, the strategy was to destroy GNASSM by attacking the leadership to gain public attention.
The members present from all the 13 mining districts in the country debunked assertions in the press release by Philip Bawah et al indicating that it does not reflect views and the aspirations of all the members.
