By Ousman Saidykhan
The 50 million dalasis civil suit filed by the environment minister against The Alkamba Time’s Investigative journalist, Kebba Ansu Manneh, has been adjourned to December 12. Both parties have shown their willingness to hold discussions that could settle the matter out of court.
Journalists and activists were present this morning when the civil suit case was mentioned. They were showing solidarity with the defendant, Mr. Manneh, who sat at the back of the courtroom, watching his lawyer represent him.
The plaintiff, Rohey John Manjang, was not present in court, but she had her counsel, M. Drammeh, present.
Justice Akinbiyi advised on the issue of out-of-court settlement after the High Court judge asked whether the parties had explored any attempts to resolve the matter outside the court amicably. Both parties said they were available for discussions.
This Medium understands that the plaintiff insists the defendant apologizes for publishing “unfounded” allegations and retracting the article while the defendant stands their ground.
The judge also suggested that subject to the agreement of the defendant and plaintiff, the court could transfer the matter to the Court-Connected Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), a mechanism used to settle disputes in conjunction with normal courts through mediation.
The counsel for the plaintiff told the court they had been served the defendant’s statement of defense and needed time to respond to it. The plaintiff was given time to prepare their response, and they could also find ways to end the case out of court. The case will proceed if the parties do not settle the matter before the date, December 12 adjourned.
The Alkamba Times is represented by experienced lawyer Junkung Jobarteh and his team from Managing Law Practice.
The plaintiff, Rohey John Manjang, claims journalist Kebba Ansu Manneh wrote an article that contained “malicious and unfounded allegations” about her. She is seeking the court to order the defendant to write and publish an “unreserved apology” on the TAT website and other platforms where the article was published, in addition to a 50 million dalasi compensation.
She is also asking the court to order the defendant to remove from social media platforms all statements pertaining to the plaintiff’s alleged defamation and to grant a perpetual injunction to restrain the defendant from making any further defamatory statement against her, indirectly or through his agents, associates, and contacts.
TAT’s investigative article, authored by Kebbe Ansu and published on June 19, 2024, included allegations of D150,000 being paid to a bank account allegedly belonging to the minister. The amount is allegedly from a sum of D200,000 generated from the sale of a Mahogany in Kiang Kaif.
