KEY POINTS
- Forestry boss sues Abronye DC for defamation.
- He seeks GH¢20 million in damages and apologies.
- The case centres on forged documents related to forestry.
Ghana’s Acting Forestry Commission boss has launched a defamation suit against a prominent political figure in the Bono Region. Dr. Hugh Clement A. Brown is demanding GH¢20 million in damages from the New Patriotic Party’s Kwame Baffoe, also known as Abronye DC, over allegations broadcast on OHIA TV earlier in July.
Lawsuit filed after controversial OHIA TV broadcast
In the July 10 airing of The Evidence on Baffoe’s digital platform, the NPP regional chairman accused Dr. Brown of forging official letters, sanctioning the illegal sale of forest reserves, and backdating documents to implicate the previous NPP-led government.
“If you backdate a letter to make it look like these events happened under the NPP regime, then you are engaging in forgery,” Baffoe said during the segment.
According to MyJoyOnline, Dr. Brown, a trained forester and PhD holder in Tropical Forest Ecology who has held various senior roles at the Commission since 1993, strongly denied the claims.
In court documents, he accused Baffoe of launching a smear campaign “without any factual basis,” describing the broadcast as malicious and defamatory. His legal team says the allegations paint him as “a thief, a fraud, and a corrupt official.”
Dr. Brown maintains he did not hold the Acting CEO position at the time of the alleged actions and denies forging any documents or orchestrating payments through unofficial channels.
Forestry boss sues Abronye DC for GH¢20 million
The suit seeks GH¢15 million in general damages, GH¢5 million in exemplary damages, and a set of public apologies to be aired on GTV, TV3, Joy TV, and OHIA TV. He’s also requesting weekly retractions in the Daily Graphic and a formal apology across all digital channels operated by OHIA TV.
The defendant has yet to respond formally to the lawsuit.
