Dr Mustapha Ahmed, a former Minister of Youth and Sports in Ghana, has been sentenced to seven days in prison by the Accra High Court (Financial and Economic Crime Division 2) for contempt of court.
The court had previously granted a perpetual injunction in a land litigation case, which Dr Ahmed violated. In addition to the prison sentence, the court has fined him GH¢12,000 or 30 days in prison.
If paid, GH¢5,000 of the fine will be paid to Kofi Ammoah Kwafo, the man who initiated the contempt application against Dr Ahmed, the Chief of Defence Staff, and the Director-General of Logistics of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF).
The contempt application originated from a land litigation case six years ago, in which Dr Ahmed sold land to Mr Kwafo in 2000 and then repossessed it with the excuse of having made a mistake.
In the contempt application, Mr Kwafo attached the Chief of Defence Staff and the Director-General of Logistics because the personnel of the GAF occupying a property built on the disputed land resisted the execution of the court’s judgment. However, the court noted that neither the Chief of Defence Staff nor the Director-General of Logistics were personally served with copies of the court’s judgment in 2019.
Mr Kwafo argued that the respondents defied the authority of the court, bringing the administration of justice into disrepute.
He claimed that the first respondent disposed of the property to the GAF in 2017, which was executed in 2018, and the application for registration was made in 2021 when the court’s judgment was already handed down. The officers of the GAF were in contempt of court when they resisted the execution of the judgment, he said.
Dr Ahmed’s counsel, Mr Christopher A. Fynn, argued that his client cannot be found in contempt as there was no evidence to show that he had breached any court order, direction or judgment. He denied backdating the assignment of the sub-matter to the GAF or any other allegation of fraud, stating that this was a ploy to enforce the judgment by means other than what was prescribed by the court’s rules. Dr Ahmed also claimed that the applicant was using an incompetent process to incite the court against him and the other respondents.
The Chief of Defence Staff and the Director of Logistics told the court that there was no evidence of a writ of possession having been properly obtained and served to them, as they had not been parties to the suit. They argued that posting the judgment on the property and writing to the GAF was not a proper procedure for notifying them of the judgment.
In her judgment, Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, a Court of Appeal judge sitting with additional responsibility as a High Court judge, noted that both the Chief of Defence Staff and the Director-General of Logistics were not personally served with copies of the court’s judgment in 2019.
However, she found Dr Ahmed guilty of contempt of court and ordered him to serve a seven-day prison sentence and pay a fine of GH¢12,000, with GH¢5,000 to be paid to Mr Kwafo. If the fine is not paid, Dr Ahmed will serve 30 days in prison.
Source: Soccanews.com