The High Court in Accra has rejected a defamation lawsuit brought by Dr. Ransford Anertey Abbey, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), against Kwame Baffoe Abronye, the Bono Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The decision was rendered on Monday, January 19, 2026, by Justice Halimah El-Alawa Abdul Baasit at the High Court, General Jurisdiction 2, located in Accra.
Dr. Abbey initiated the lawsuit on August 26, 2025, claiming that Mr. Abronye had made defamatory broadcasts and publications that damaged his reputation. The lawsuit sought personal redress for the alleged defamation.
However, the court determined that the lawsuit was improperly filed as it was submitted through COCOBOD’s Legal Department, despite the case being brought in Dr. Abbey’s personal capacity. COCOBOD was not named as a party in the lawsuit.
Counsel for Mr. Abronye contended that a legal department of a state institution cannot represent an individual in a private legal matter, a stance that the court supported.
Justice Abdul Baasit clarified that defamation is a personal tort designed to safeguard an individual’s reputation, not that of a public institution.
“The plaintiff, having sued in his personal capacity, ought to procure the services of a private legal practitioner to represent him,” she stated.
She further noted that public institutional legal resources cannot be utilised for purely personal litigation, which rendered the writ and statement of claim incompetent before the court.
As a result, the High Court dismissed the lawsuit in its entirety and ruled that no costs would be awarded against either party.
The lawsuit sought GHS 20 million in damages for what Dr. Abbey characterised as false, malicious, and defamatory statements made by Abronye during a public broadcast.
