Lawyer Maurice Ampaw, a private legal practitioner has expressed disappointment in the Member of Parliament for North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa for disrespecting a legal document.
According to the outspoken lawyer, Okudzeto Ablakwa needs to be summoned by parliament’s privileges committee for contempt of court.
Ablakwa was sighted in a viral video kicking an alleged court order filed against him by the Executive Secretary of the Board of Trustees for the National Cathedral, Rev Victor Kusi Boateng, seeking a 10-day restraining order from further public publication by Ablakwa.
The viral video captures Ablakwa kicking the said documents on the floor after the bailiff tried to force it into his car.
Responding to the incident which happened last Friday, Ampaw told Neat FM on Monday February 6, 2023; that Ablakwa should not disrespect the courts or meddle with the legal process as a legislator.
“As a lawmaker, his actions show the public that one, you have disrespected and disregarded the authority of the court, two; you’ve interfered with the administration of legal process and three; disrespected the legal process, thus, the document and that’s a serious issue.
“I look from this angle that Ablakwa needs to be punished. With Alban Bagbin being a lawyer, Ablakwa by now should be asked by colleagues to appear before the privileges committee of parliament to face contempt charges,” he said.
He added that the Attorney General can step in to punish Ablakwa for exhibiting such behaviour.
“And if the video goes too viral, I think the attorney general can step in and cite him for contempt, for undermining and demeaning the court,” he added.
Rev Kusi Boateng secures restraining order against Ablakwa
Reverend Victor Kusi Boateng, who is also known as Kwabena Adu Gyamfi, secured an order of interim injunction against Ablakwa.
The order restrains Okudzeto Ablakwa from publicly sharing any document belonging to Kwabena Adu Gyamfi for the next 10 days.
The MP disclosed this in a tweet shared on Friday, February 3, 2023, stating that he was served the order after his appearance on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana programme on the same day.
“One Kwabena Adu Gyamfi also claiming to have an alias as Victor Kusi Boateng has secured a 10-day restraining order seeking to stop me from further publications on the Conflict of Interest & Double Identity Scandal,” parts of the MP’s tweet read.
The MP shared a picture of the order he was served which read: “IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the 1" Respondent, SAMUEL OKUDZETO ABLAKWA is restrained from making further public disclosures of private documents, correspondence, communication and property belonging to the Applicant (Adu Gyamfi)."
“IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this interim order will lapse after Ten (10) days,” it added.
Background
The latest corruption exposé on the National Cathedral by the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, suggested impropriety on the part of the secretary to the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral of Ghana, Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng.
On January 16, 2023, the MP made some allegations against Rev. Kusi Boateng, who is the secretary to the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral of Ghana.
In an earlier revelation about the National Cathedral, Okudzeto Ablakwa said a whopping GH¢2.6 million was dished out to a company named JNS Talent Centre Limited.
Further investigations into the alleged payment led to the discovery of one Kwabena Adu Gyamfi as a director of JNS Talent Centre.
Having confirmed the identities of two out of three directors of the centre, Ablakwa dug deeper in a bid to discover the identity of the third director, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.
According to his findings, citing a number of statutory documents, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi was the same as Reverend Kusi Boateng, who has allegedly been operating under the pseudonym Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.
AM/SARA
MP for North Tongu , Samuel Okudzato Ablakwa