An Accra High Court has dismissed an application from Kwame Baffoe, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Chairman for the Bono Region, commonly known as Abronye. He sought to have a 20 million cedi defamation suit against him by Dr. Ransford Anertey Abbey, the Chief Executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), struck out. However, the court has referred the issue of the appropriate venue for hearing the case to the Chief Justice for determination.
Details
The lawsuit arises from comments allegedly made by Baffoe during the August 23, 2025 edition of The Evidence, a program broadcast on OHIA TV. According to the lawsuit filed by Abbey, Baffoe accused him of incompetence, conspiring to steal from COCOBOD, and misusing the state agency’s funds for personal gain.
Abbey claims that these statements, made in both Twi and English, were false and defamatory, resulting in significant damage to his reputation. He is seeking a declaration that the remarks were indeed defamatory, an order requiring Baffoe to issue an unconditional apology and retraction, the removal of the broadcast from all platforms, and 20 million cedis in general damages.
Defence
Baffoe had asked the court to dismiss the suit, arguing that he was served with the court documents in Sunyani and that the action should not have been filed in Accra. He also challenged the validity of the solicitor’s licence number endorsed on the writ commencing the action. Counsel for Abbey, Alex Owoo, opposed the application, arguing that a valid practising licence for the 2025/2026 legal year had been filed and that Accra was the appropriate venue because the allegedly defamatory broadcast originated from OHIA TV’s operations in the capital.
By court
Delivering the ruling, Justice Klorkor Okai-Mills held that the plaintiff’s lawyer possessed a valid practising licence. The judge further ruled that although the defendant had relied on an incorrect procedural rule, the court would determine the matter on its merits rather than dismiss it on a technicality. On the issue of venue, Justice Okai-Mills said Ghana’s civil procedure rules require such disputes to be referred to the Chief Justice, rather than resulting in the dismissal of the case. The court consequently dismissed the application to strike out the writ and statement of claim and directed that the venue question be referred to the Chief Justice.
Background
Chief executive officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) and veteran broadcaster, Dr Randy Abbey filed a GHC20 million defamation lawsuit against Kwame Baffoe, popularly known as Abronye DC, the Bono regional chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). He later refiled the action after the High Court, on 19 January 2026, directed him to do so, since the action is personal and should therefore not include COCOBOD’s legal team.
The previous action, filed on Tuesday, 26 August 2025, and the latest action both allege that Abronye made “false, malicious and defamatory” statements about Abbey during a public broadcast and on social media. According to the legal filing, Abronye accused Dr Abbey of misusing state resources and engaging in corrupt practices at COCOBOD. He claimed the CEO transported a personal chair in multiple Land Cruisers from Accra to rural cocoa farms, refusing to sit on chairs provided by farmers, and allegedly manipulated internal appointments to facilitate the embezzlement of public funds.
Alleged defamatory comment
The statement of claim filed by lawyers for Dr Abbey, Abronye is quoted to have said the following in his local language, TWI;
“Is it not surprising that when Randy Abbey goes for inspection on the cocoa farms, he has a chair he brings from Accra that he sits on it. That is Randy Abbey for you. Pride and arrogance, because the cocoa farmers who pay Randy Abbey, Randy, would not sit on their chairs because they are ugly.
” Randy Abbey is the CEO of COCOBOD. When he is going to see the cocoa farmers, he carries a chair from his office in Accra inside a land cruiser, a separate land cruiser for the chair that carries Randy Abbey’s chair. Ghana COCOBOD buys petrol for that Land Cruiser.
“So the CEO has one Land Cruiser, his personal aide also has one Land Cruiser and his chair also takes one Land Cruiser. And the cocoa farmers whose monies have been spent, it is their monies that are used to buy petrol for these Land Cruisers and that is what he takes to the cocoa farms.
” So when he gets there, they then remove the chair so that he can sit on it because the cocoa farmers who farm the cocoa so that he can be paid his crooked waist, that is what they use to pay him, their chair is very ugly so he cannot sit on it. That is Randy Abbey for you.
”A CEO who, when he visits the cocoa farmers, has his own chairs, do you think he would respect you the cocoa farmers? or think about you for you to prosper? No he would not think about you.
” The phenomenon now is that my government is in power and so Randy has brought someone “you, we believe that you are a proper NDC so we can work with you to steal because those who were here previously, I do not trust them, so the money that I want to steal, I cannot steal it so let me take another Director of Finance so that we can steal money”.
” The reason why Randy Abbey has changed the Director of Finance and told him to go and stay at home is that he wants someone he can steal money with so he has gone to take his own personal preference and made the person Director of Finance because he is the one he can steal COCOBOD money with to the detriment of the poor cocoa farmer because he has come to steal money and go home.
“So the former Director who was there as the former Director of Finance, was told to go and stay home for a month and receive pay whilst another Director of Finance is appointed and the same cocoa farmers who you told that the price of cocoa is not good so they should take 128 Ghana cedis (listen to me cocoa farmers, listen to me) Randy Abbey for me.
” The cocoa price that you said is not good, the Director of Finance takes 18,000 a month plus allowances and everything costs around 25,000, he is at home. 250 million a month in allowances together with fuel allowance despite all these he is sitting at home,” Abronye reportedly said.
Reliefs
Abbey’s lawyers insist the allegations are entirely fabricated and designed to tarnish his professional reputation. They argue that such statements undermine public trust in government institutions and accountability mechanisms. The relief sought includes a declaration that Abronye’s statements are defamatory, a full public retraction and apology, removal of all defamatory materials, GHC20 million in general, punitive, and compensatory damages, a perpetual injunction preventing further defamatory remarks, and legal costs.
The case was filed through COCOBOD’s legal department, highlighting concerns over the circulation of unverified claims in Ghanaian political discourse. This is not the first time Abronye DC has faced legal action. In July 2025, Hugh Clement A Brown, the acting CEO of the Forestry Commission, also sued him for GHC20 million over alleged defamatory statements.
Source: Jonathan Ofori
