Accra, Dec. 21, GNA – The Lighthouse Chapel International (LCI) has dragged Manasseh Awuni Azure, an investigative journalist and three others to the High Court for disobeying an order of the court.
The High Court in Accra on October 25, 2022, had found Manasseh, Edwin Appiah and Sulemana Briamah both with the Media Foundation of West Africa guilty of contempt of court and ordered them to render an unqualified apology to the Church.
The respondents had continuously published contemptuous articles in an ongoing matter before the Court, some of which were titled “Darkness in a Lighthouse.”
In an ex-parte application for contempt filed on December 19, 2022, before a Commercial Court, LCI noted that Manasseh and the three respondents had been convicted for contempt of court and ordered them to do the following.
“The respondents are ordered to purge their contempt application by offering unqualified analogy to the court as well as the applicant in every media space that they wrote the articles
The respondents were also to pay 200 penalty units each or in default serve one month imprisonment,” the applicant held.
The LCI noted that notwithstanding the clear language used by the Court, the respondents had failed to apologise to the applicant in their individual capacities.
According to the applicant, the respondents had decided to appoint the Fourth Estate which was not a party to the suit to apologize on their behalf adding, the Fourth Estate was not even a legal entity capable of rendering an apology in any form or shape.
The Applicant said it was totally incomprehensible that the Fourth Estate could assume the responsibility of rendering an apology of any form by itself or appointed by the respondents to render the apology.
LCI contends further that despite the unmistakable language of the order of the Court that the respondents render an unqualified apology both to the Court and the LCI, the respondents stubbornly elected to render the said “caricature of an apology” to the Court only and deliberately refused to apologise to Lighthouse Chapel
The Applicant states that, “In purporting to render the said caricature of an apology the Fourth Estate which the respondents voluntarily adopted as their mouthpiece without any court order deliberately and defiantly refused to render the apology of any sort to the applicant..”
It is again the case of LCI that the apology was to render in all media spaces in which the articles were published but Manasseh Azure refused to publish even the “caricature of an apology on his Facebook wall that had “the Highest hits of the reviews of the contemptuous articles.”
The affidavit in support of the motion states that, “This particular conduct of the first Respondent (Manasseh Azure) is most self-evident manifestation of his and all the Respondents’ total disrespect and contempt for this court and the Applicant herein, it being a notorious fact that the First Respondent’s face Book is generally the most patronized media space among all the media spaces on which the contemptuous articles were published.”
The Applicant noted that the respondents’ conduct was not only “contumacious” but same was to spite the Court.
The Applicant said it was “aware of the current trend of media gangsterism which had reared its ugly head in the country, adding it was appropriate for the court to show its displeasure and abhorrence of media practitioners who have become emboldened to defy the lawful order of the court.”
The LCI was of a “considered view that this court must not be only convict the respondents for the second time but impose a hefty fine on all of the respondents and custodial sentences of 1st, 2nd and 3rd Respondents without any prejudice to an order directed to them to purge themselves of the earlier contempt.
The Commercial Court Division of the High Court is expected to hear the matter on January 24, 2023.
SEND A STORY: Do you have a story for us or need a promotion / advertisement? Submit them via our email dannyboy744@gmail.com and via on +233 266777777
