Chronicle vrs GIS officer: Daggers Drawn

The Chronicle has filed its defence in a defamatory suit brought against it by Mr. Isaac Dzihlornu, a staff of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), over a series of stories the paper wrote against him last year.

Dzihlornu, who was stationed at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), last week Friday obtained a default judgement against The Chronicle, Emmanuel Akli, Acting Editor and Ankiilu Kunateh, writer of the stories, which was given wide publicity by various media networks.

In an interview he granted to Citi FM, an Accra based radio station, after the default judgement; Dzihlornu claimed because of The Chronicle publications against him, he had been transferred from the KIA to a different location.

But in statement of defense which was filed yesterday, the Paper insisted that all the publications were fair comments upon a matter of public interest.

In the said publications, The Chronicle reported that Mr. Isaac Dzihlornu had caused a security breach at the Airport by accessing travel information of female passengers and on at least two occasions used the said information to entice two ladies, one of whom became a victim of the Plaintiff’s alleged fraud.

The Chronicle further argued in the defence filed on its behalf by Counsel Kweku Y. Paintsil, Managing Solicitor of Paintsil, Paintsil & Co., a legal firm based at Osu Kuku Hill in Accra that, the Ghanaian public have a constitutionally enshrined right to privacy guaranteed by Article 18(2) of the 1992 Constitution and that the unauthorized access and dissemination of information, including making a copy of a passengers’ disembarkation card to the passengers, is unauthorized and constitutes a breach of privacy.

The paper further argued that Ghanaians have a right to know if any public servant is in breach of his duties;

and that the Defendants have a right as a news media organization to report on such matters and the Ghanaian public have a corresponding duty to receive such published information from the Defendants.

“The Defendants also say that they took every step and precaution and used every means available to obtain the Plaintiffs’ response to the several allegations made against him by the two women and ended up doing a fair and balanced report devoid of any ulterior motives or malice. Paragraph 23 .of the Amended statement of Claim is accordingly denied.

“The Defendants deny that the Plaintiff has suffered loss and damage as specified in paragraphs 22 of the Statement of Claim or any damage by reason of the said publications by the Defendants of the words complained of or that the Defendants are liable for any embarrassment or hurt to the Plaintiff’s feelings, as to which no admissions are made,” the defendants argued.

Below is the full statement of defence.

1. The Defendants deny each and every allegation of fact contained in the Amended Statement of Claim as if the same have been set out in extenso and denied seriatim.

1. Save that The Chronicle Newspaper is not a juridical person capable of being sued, and save further that the Defendants deny defaming the Plaintiff, the Defendants admit paragraphs 1,2,3,4 and 5 of the Amended Statement of Claim.

1. The Defendants admit publication of the words complained of in paragraphs 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 16, 18, 19, 20 and 21 of the Amended Statement of Claim in the Ghanaian Chronicle newspaper editions of 8^th, 9^th and 10^th October, 2014, but say that the said words formed part of a much longer story or stories to the whole of which the Defendants will refer for the context and true meaning of the words complained of. Further, it is normal journalistic practice to identify stories with the subjects of the story unless otherwise prohibited by law.

1. The Defendants admit that the words complained of meant and were understood to mean that the Plaintiff caused a security breach at the Airport by accessing travel information of female passengers and on at least two occasions used the said information to entice two ladies, one of whom became a victim of the Plaintiff’s fraud. However, it is otherwise denied that the said words bore or were understood to bear or were capable of bearing the meanings or either of them pleaded in paragraphs 10, 11, 14, 15 and 17 of the Amended Statement of Claim.

1. In their natural and ordinary meaning the said words are true in substance and in fact.

Particulars

1. The Plaintiff obtained from the security data base at the Kotoka International Airport, the private information, including telephone numbers and residential address, of a Ghanaian lady who is ordinarily resident outside Ghana;

1. The Plaintiff actually delivered to the said lady a copy of her disembarkation card on which are recorded her private information;

• That by such means and methods and also by representing to her that he could be useful to her in any business activities she wanted to embark upon in Ghana, the Plaintiff warmed his way into the said lady’s life and engaged in romance with her;

1. That during the course of the said relationship, the Plaintiff obtained from the said lady an amount of GH¢12,000.00 which became the subject matter of a police complaint with the Ghana Police Service, Kwesimintsim in the Western region;

1. That the Plaintiff by using the same modus operandi befriended another Ghanaian lady, which

relationship ended up on the rocks.

1. In the alternative, the Defendants say in response to the said averments that the words were fair comment upon a matter of public interest upon facts which are true

Particulars:

1. The Plaintiff is a public servant, paid with the tax payers money;

1. The Plaintiff has access to the security data at the Airport;

• The Ghanaian public have a constitutionally enshrined right to privacy guaranteed by Article 18(2) of the 1992 Constitution;

1. The unauthorized access and dissemination of information, including making a copy of a passengers’ disembarkation card to the passengers, is unauthorized and constitutes a breach of privacy;

1. That Ghanaians have a right to know if any public servant is in breach of his duties;

1. The Defendants have a right as news media organization to report on such matters and the Ghanaian public have a corresponding duty to receive such published information from the Defendants

1. The Defendants also say that they took every step and precaution and used every means available to obtain the Plaintiffs’ response to the several allegations made against him by the two women and ended up doing a fair and balanced report devoid of any ulterior motives or malice. Paragraph 23 .of the Amended statement of Claim is accordingly denied.

1. The Defendants deny that the Plaintiff has suffered loss and damage as specified in paragraphs 22 of the Statement of Claim or any damage by reason of the said publications by the Defendants of the words complained of or that the Defendants are liable for any embarrassment or hurt to the Plaintiff’s feelings, as to which no admissions are made.

DATED AT PAINTSIL, PAINTSIL & CO., GOSHEN CHAMBERS, NO. 5 SIXTH LANE, KUKU HILL, OSU – ACCRA, THIS 10^TH DAY OF FEBRUARY, 2015.

KWEKU Y. PAINTSIL, ESQ.

SOLICITOR FOR DEFENDANTS

THE REGISTRAR

HIGH COURT

FAST TRACK DIVISION, ACCRA

The Chronicle