New Writs, Same War: Afenyo-Markin Sues Sammy Gyamfi, Eric Adjei Again

The Minority Leader in Parliament, Osahen Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has relaunched his legal battle against two government appointees over alleged defamatory statements they made against him, filing fresh writs at the Accra High Court after an earlier procedural misstep threatened to derail the cases.

In a press statement issued Tuesday by his lawyers, led by F. Paa Kwesi Abaidoo, Esq., the Minority Leader confirmed that a fresh suit, numbered GJ/0061/2027, was filed at the Accra High Court on Tuesday afternoon against Mr. Eric Adjei, Chief Executive of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP). The new writ follows the discontinuance of an earlier action at the Achimota Circuit Court earlier that same morning.

The statement disclosed that a separate writ, Suit No. GJ/0045/2027 had been filed at the Accra High Court on Thursday, October 15, 2026, against Mr. Sammy Gyamfi, Chief Executive of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod). That suit concerns statements Mr. Gyamfi allegedly made during the Government Accountability Series and on JOY FM’s Newsfile programme to the effect that the Minority Leader was a “devious extortionist.”

The fresh filings come after the Accra High Court, General Jurisdiction 1 Division, on October 14, 2026, dismissed Osahen Afenyo-Markin’s GH¢15 million defamation suit against Mr. Gyamfi on the grounds that the original writ of summons was “incurably defective and incompetent”.

Presiding Judge Justice Agyenim Boateng held that the writ failed to endorse sufficient particulars of the alleged defamatory publication as mandatorily required under Order 57, Rule 2 of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004 (C.I. 47).

The court emphasised that the ruling was purely procedural and did not determine whether Sammy Gyamfi’s description of the Minority Leader as an “extortionist” was defamatory. ‌

The dispute traces back to August 2026, when Osahen Afenyo-Markin, the Member of Parliament for Effutu, publicly demanded accountability over a reported US$1.7 billion loss under the Bank of Ghana’s Domestic Gold Purchase Programme.

In a sharp response Sammy Gyamfi, speaking at the Government Accountability Series, ostensibly to explain why he believes GoldBod had made no such losses, labelled Afenyo-Markin as a “devious extortionist”

Sammy Gyamfi subsequently appeared on Joy FM Joy News’ Newsfile current affairs radio programme on August 22, where he said he stands by his description of the Minority Leader as an “extortionist”.

Eric Adjei, after the August 19 Government Accountability Series addressed by Sammy Gyamfi, subsequently repeated similar allegations on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo morning show on August 20 and said he has evidence to back his claim. ‌

Osahen Afenyo-Markin initially responded by filing two separate defamation actions in August 2026. One was filed at the High Court against Sammy Gyamfi and Multimedia Group Limited (operators of Joy FM and Joy News TV) at the High Court seeking GH¢15 million in damages

The second writ was filed at the Achimota Circuit Court against Eric Adjei and Peace FM at the Achimota Circuit Court seeking GH¢2 million in damages.

The Circuit Court action was discontinued on Tuesday, hours before a fresh writ on the same matter was filed at the High Court ‌ by Osahen Afenyo-Markin.

Although the Minority Leader’s legal team maintains its disagreement with the High Court’s decision to set aside the earlier writ, Tuesday’s statement affirmed that the new writs have been issued “in accordance with the Court’s latest Interpretation of the rules.”

“The Mills of Justice Grind Slowly but with Great SURETY,” the statement concluded.

Background to the Dispute

The defamation claims stem from public exchanges over the Bank of Ghana’s Domestic Gold Purchase Programme, which Osahen Afenyo-Markin had criticised over reported losses by the IMF.

Sammy Gyamfi’s rebuttal at the Government Accountability Series and subsequently on Newsfile in which he called the Minority Leader an “extortionist” prompted the initial GH¢15 million suit, which also named Multimedia Group Limited as a co-defendant. Mr. Gyamfi’s lawyers, moved aggressively to set aside the writ, arguing it failed to properly invoke the court’s jurisdiction under the civil procedure rules. ‌

With the fresh writs now before the High Court, the substantive question of whether the statements were defamatory is expected to be determined on the merits.