The High Court in Accra has dismissed a defamation suit filed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Dr Ransford Anertey Abbey, against the Bono Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwame Baffoe Abronye.
The ruling was delivered on Monday, January 19, 2026, by Justice Halimah El-Alawa Abdul Baasit at the High Court, General Jurisdiction 2, in Accra.
Dr Abbey filed the suit on August 26, 2025, alleging that Mr Abronye had made defamatory broadcasts and publications that harmed his reputation. The action sought personal redress for the alleged defamation.
However, the court held that the suit was improperly instituted because it was filed through COCOBOD’s Legal Department, even though the case was brought in Dr Abbey’s personal capacity. COCOBOD was not listed as a party to the suit.
Counsel for Mr Abronye had argued that a state institution’s legal department cannot represent an individual in a private legal matter, a position the court upheld. Justice Abdul Baasit explained that defamation is a personal tort meant to protect an individual’s reputation and 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 said.
She added that public institutional legal resources cannot be used for purely personal litigation, rendering the writ and statement of claim incompetent before the court.
Consequently, the High Court dismissed the suit in its entirety and ordered that no costs be awarded against either party.
The suit sought GHS 20 million in damages over what Dr Abbey describes as false, malicious, and defamatory statements made by Abronye during a public broadcast.
