National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu has acted in a highly discourteous manner that has been described by political watchers and social media analysts as an insult to the country’s courts and the Judicial system.
In a video that went viral on social media, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa was seen kicking away a writ filed against him by the Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral, Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng.
He did the booting after rejecting service of the restraining order from the Reverend who is also known as Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.
The North Tongu MP got down from his luxurious car and kicked the document after the bailiff tried to serve him in the car on the premises of Metro TV after he participated in ‘Good Morning Ghana’ Programme on Friday.
Prior to this, the bailiff showed the restraining order to Okudzeto Ablakwa and the MP refused to take the document and went into his plush car.
His conduct has prompted some people on social media demanding the arrest of the lawmaker whose acts they deemed as extremely disrespectful to the judicial arm of government.
In their view, the way in which Okudzeto Ablakwa treated court documents, was an affront to the authority of the court.
Brief account
The bailiff initially approached the North Tongu MP as he was just about to sit in his car after the ‘Good Morning Ghana’ programme.
The two were captured having a conversation after which the document was presented to him.
However, Okudzeto Ablakwa did not take the document but went ahead to sit in his car.
Just as the North Tongu MP opened his car, the bailiff attached the document to the body of the lawmaker but he immediately threw it out, kicked it away from his car and drove off.
Restraining order
Rev Victor Kusi Boateng also known as Kwabena Adu Gyamfi has secured an order of interim injunction against Okudzeto Ablakwa.
The legislator has petitioned the Commission On Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), asking the anti-graft agency to probe some dealings of the Reverend in connection with the National Cathedral and yet continues to churn out unsubstantiated allegations against the ‘man of God’.
The court order has therefore restrained the North Tongu MP from publicly sharing any document belonging to Rev Kusi Boateng or Kwabena Adu Gyamfi for the next 10 days.
In a tweet shared last Friday, Okudzeto Ablakwa belatedly admitted following widespread condemnation of his contemptuous conduct that he was served the order after his appearance on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana programme on the same day.
“One Kwabena Adu Gyamfi also claiming to have an alias as Victor Kusi Boateng has secured a 10-day restraining order seeking to stop me from further publications on the Conflict of Interest & Double Identity Scandal,” parts of the MP’s tweet read.
Okudzeto Ablakwa also shared a picture of the order he was served which read, “IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the 1″ Respondent, SAMUEL OKUDZETO ABLAKWA is restrained from making further public disclosures of private documents, correspondence, communication and property belonging to the Applicant (Adu Gyamfi).
“IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this interim order will lapse after Ten (10) days,” the restraining order added.
Meanwhile, Okudzeto Ablakwa who is also the Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament said he has instructed his lawyers to take the necessary action on the case.
Background
The North Tongu MP had alleged some impropriety on the part of the secretary to the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral of Ghana, Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng.
He claimed that the National Cathedral illegally doled out a whopping GH¢2.6 million to a company named JNS Talent Centre Limited.
According to him, his investigations into the alleged payment led to the discovery of one Kwabena Adu Gyamfi as a director of JNS Talent Centre.
Having confirmed the identities of two out of three directors of the company, Okudzeto Ablakwa said he dug deeper in a bid to discover the identity of the third director, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.
He claimed his findings revealed a number of statutory documents in which Kwabena Adu Gyamfi was the same as Reverend Kusi Boateng, who has allegedly been “operating under the pseudonym Kwabena Adu Gyamfi”.
