Okyeame Kwame Wins Defamation Suit Against Gyedu-Blay Ambolley
Ghanaian musician Kwame Nsiah-Apau (Okyeame Kwame) has won a defamation battle against veteran highlife musician Gyedu-Blay Ambolley.
The two musicians underwent an arbitration process, which was accepted as consent judgement on March 23, 2023.
Mr Gyedu-Blay Ambolley was ordered to retract and apologise to his colleague for tarnishing his image after it was concluded that he had defamed Okyeame Kwame.
In a LinkedIn post signed by Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, he wrote:
“In the course of an interview on 3FM on February 22, 2020, concerning the use of some funds donated by the Government of Ghana to the Musicians Association of Ghana (MUSIGHA), I was mistaken concerning some of the details of the matter, particularly with respect to my colleague musician and MUSIGHA member Kwame Nsiah Apau also known as Okyeame Kwame and I wish to correct and clarify those facts as follows:”
“Obour did not give Okyeame Kwame a personal loan from MUSIGHA funds. To support artistes and enable them access to loans, MUSIGHA entered an arrangement with Midland Bank and provided security/collateral for the arrangement. Okyeame Kwame only took advantage of the initiative and applied for a loan from Midland Bank, which he was given. He has informed me that he has since paid back the bank in full”.
“To the extent that my earlier statements may have affected the reputation of Okyeame Kwame, I apologise and state that the errors in my statements were not made maliciously,” he concluded.
The plaintiff, after the retraction and the apology, has not made any public comment regarding the case.
In that interview, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley claimed that Bice Osei Kuffour, the MUSIGHA president at the time, had given Okyeame Kwame and some other musicians an amount of GH¢50,000 from government’s GH¢2 million meant for the MUSIGHA association.
Okyeame Kwame refuted the allegations and dragged Gyedu-Blay Ambolley to court for defamation.
The 2009 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards Artist of the Year offered the highlife legend an opportunity to apologise or risk having a defamation suit filed against him.
However, Ambolley refused to apologise.
Subsequently, Okyeame Kwame file a suit at the Accra High Court dated March 17, 2020, to clear his name.