Accra:Private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu has commented on the Accra High Court's dismissal of Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin's GHS15 million defamation suit against GoldBod CEO, Sammy Gyamfi. Kpebu suggests the court could have allowed Afenyo-Markin to amend the procedural errors that resulted in the case's dismissal.
According to Ghana Web, Kpebu explained that Ghanaian courts have previously permitted lawyers to rectify defective documents when the necessary information is available in other court documents. This approach aligns with Supreme Court decisions stating that a case should not fail if missing details in one document are present in another related document.
Kpebu noted that judges can direct lawyers to amend defective documents by transferring relevant information from the statement of claim to the writ. This practice supports the principle of substantive justice, which discourages dismissing cases based solely on technicalities.
In Afenyo-Markin's situation, the judge opted not to use discretion to allow amendments, leading to the dismissal. Kpebu described the mistake as potentially correctable and highlighted that similar errors have occurred in other defamation cases. He advised against assuming the procedural error was intentional, pointing out that there is no evidence to suggest deliberateness in this instance.