On June 12, 2019, the court ordered a perpetual injunction prohibiting the former minister, then the defendant, from trespassing on land in a judgment, but he disobeyed the order.
The court also sentenced him to 30 days in jail or a GH12,000 fine.
If the fine is paid, the court, presided over by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, ruled that GH5,000 be given to Kofi Ammoah Kwafo, the individual who initiated the contempt action against Dr Ahmed, Chief of Defence Staff and Director-General of Logistics of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF).
The contempt motion arose from a land lawsuit matter six years ago, in which Dr Ahmed, a former Member of Parliament for Ayawaso North, sold land to Mr Kwafo in the year 2000 and afterwards seized it on the pretext of making a mistake.
The applicant, Mr Kwafo, attached the Chief of Defence Staff and the Director-General of Logistics in the contempt suit because GAF troops occupying a property erected on the disputed ground refused enforcement of the court’s judgment.
In her ruling, Justice Asare-Botwe, a Court of Appeal judge who also serves as a High Court judge with extra authority, noted that the Chief of Defence Staff and the Director-General of Logistics were not physically served with copies of the court’s 2019 land lawsuit decision.
Mr. Kwafo claimed that the respondents disobeyed the court’s authority in his affidavit in support and written address, acting in a way that brought the administration of justice into disgrace.For instance, the applicant claimed that the first respondent allegedly sold the property to the GAF in 2017; however, the deed was only signed in 2018; as a result, the application for registration was submitted in 2021, when the court’s decision was rendered.
