The lawsuit follows comments allegedly made by Captain Smart during a broadcast on Onua TV's election coverage programme, which Hammond argues have damaged his reputation.
According to court documents, the contentious remarks were reportedly made on December 9, 2024, during Onua TV's Ghana Decides 2024 – Election Command Center – Abatoɔ Asodɛɛ.
The court papers explained that during the broadcast, Captain Smart and his co-host attributed statements to K.T. Hammond that appeared to question how a candidate of Ewe descent, Godwin Animli Dorgbadzi Dorani of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), could unseat him in the Ashanti Region.
The specific comments reportedly attributed to K.T. Hammond include:
"He said, he said: ah! How can an Ewe person unseat me? Eh, eh? He said: why would an Ewe person be the one to take the seat from me in an Ashanti township?"
Hammond, who contested the December 7, 2024, elections on the ticket of the
The former MP contends that these alleged comments, in their plain and implied meanings, paint him as a tribalistic individual opposed to the electoral success of Ghanaians of Ewe descent in the Ashanti Region.
In his suit, K.T. Hammond claims that the publication and subsequent widespread republication of the alleged remarks have caused him significant harm, including public ridicule and emotional distress.
Represented by Kweku Y. Paintsil of Paintsil, Paintsil & Co., Hammond seeks the following reliefs:
“Damages, including special, aggravated and exemplary damages for libel published by the Defendants herein and republished by many local and international media;
“An injunction restraining the Defendants and each of them, whether by themselves, their servants, or agents or otherwise, from further publishing or causing to be published the said words or similar words defamatory of the Plaintiff;
“An order directed to the Defendants to publish with equivalent prominence to the same medium a suitable apology and retract the said defamatory words in terms to be agreed by the parties or approved by the Plaintiff and for the same to be archived on Defendants' media space so as to remain searchable to users of the said TV, radio, Facebook, YouTube, and X accounts;
“An order directed to the Defendants to ensure the removal of the defamatory videos as well as their re-publication on other media sites from the internet.”
