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Rawlings to sue Daily Guide
for stolen sheep story
BY Abdul Salam Sule,
Ghanadot
Accra, April 10,
Ghanadot - Mr Kofi Adams, the special aide to Former
President Rawlings has declared his preparedness to sue
the Daily Guide newspaper for libel.
The libel suit which
he said, had been sanctioned by the former President was
intended to curb the malicious mudslinging and character
assassination which the former President had suffered at
the hands of the Daily Guide newspaper over the years.
According to him, the former President
has had enough of the lies and will initiate legal
action against all authors and publishers of such
defamatory materials who will be required to defend
their claims in court.
A publication in the Thursday April 9
edition of the Daily Guide newspaper alleged that the
National Democratic Congress MP for Tain in the Brong
Ahafo Region, Hon. Ahmed Ibrahim and his executives
planned to honour Rawlings on Monday with a stolen sheep
during a tour of the area last week.
The publication with the headline;
"Stolen Sheep for Rawlings", alleged that Rawlings was
in the process of receiving the sheep when the owner,
one Madam Akua Kuma showed up to claim the animal,
alleging that it had been stolen from its pen.
Kofi Adams told reporters in Accra that
no such incident occurred throughout Rawlings’ tour of
the area.
According to him the
former President, during
his 2008 election campaigns, had made a personal promise
to thank the people if they voted for the party, and his
visit was in fulfillment of that promise.
He described the publication as one of
several calculated reports aimed at maligning Rawlings.
He noted that Mr. Rawlings was showered
with gifts by the people in the various areas he visited
but maintained that the incident described by the paper
never occurred.
He remarked also that the Third Infantry
Battalion were beneficiaries from the some of the gifts
the former President received for their efforts during
the Tain re-run.
Mr. Kofi Adams pointed
out that the former President had received concerns from
various quarters about the reports and attributed it to
the newspapers circulation around the country and on the
internet.
He said, the Daily
Guide newspaper has over the years published fictitious
stories against the former President and the National
Democratic Congress, (NDC) and it is time to redeem
their image.
He explained that, the
Daily Guide newspaper first published a story that a
huge consignment of cocaine had been busted in Germany
under the Presidency of Attah Mills and when it came out
that the story was false, the newspaper did no
rejoinder.
"They will publish
false story about you but when it comes to rejoinder
they have no interest in that", he said.
According to him the
Daily Guide newspaper “have bitten more than they can
chew” and will face court action to serve as a warning
to other media houses and practitioners.
Questioned on when the
the legal suit would be filed he said “soon” but added
that the Easter holiday will have to pass before any
such action was taken.
In a related
development, the management of Metropolitan Television
Network(Metro TV) is dragging the Daily Guide newspaper
to the National Media Commission for publishing what
they described as defamatory statement against the
television station.
The April 8 2009
edition of the Daily Guide newspaper reported that a
security staff of Metro TV by name Wahab Moses hanged
himself on Monday April 6, because his employers had
refused him financial assistance to undertake an out
dooring ceremony.
This story the
management of Metro TV said, was ill-intended and
designed to tarnish the image and reputation of the
company hence their decision to take them to the
National Media Commission to redeem their image.
Ghanadot
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