Renowned legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu, has opened up about a conversation that ensued between himself and the embattled former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Dapaah when they had an encounter at the court.
According to his narration, Cecilia Dapaah approached him and asked why he had been running commentary on his case on various media platforms consistently and seemed to suggest that she was guilty.
Martin Kpebu noted that Cecilia Dapaah was nice towards her in their encounter and she urged him to exercise restraint when he is commenting on her case in court publicly.
Speaking in an interview with United Television (UTV) which GhanaWeb monitored, Martin Kpebu recounted what transpired in his conversation with Cecilia Dapaah during their encounter at the court premises.
“I don’t have any problem with her because with what she’s going through I understand her. When we were done with the court case she approached and greeted me, but I was staring at her so I asked for her name and she introduced herself to me as Cecilia Dapaah, before I realized it was her.
“I didn’t panic and she didn’t threaten me too. Then she [Cecilia Dapaah] said, ‘The analysis I’ve been doing on her case is too much. You’re always on TV running commentary and even judged me guilty already, so exercise patience in your commentary about my case.’
Martin Kpebu clarified that he does not begrudge Cecilia Dapaah and she never threatened to sue him as it is claimed in the public.
“She never told me that she would sue me. To be honest, She was very nice to me that’s why I said I don’t have a problem with her. There were certain things that she said but I can’t repeat it here but overall she was nice. At a point she asked, ‘Do I have an issue with you, so why have you taken my case so seriously?’
The legal practitioner, when asked whether he had intentions to stop commenting on Cecilia Dapaah’s case said, “I can’t stop talking about her case because I want others to learn a lesson from it.”
Background
Accra High Court fixed October 12, 2023, to hear an application to freeze the accounts of Cecilia Abena Dapaah, a former Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, again.
The court had originally fixed October 18, 2023, to hear the application.
However, it changed that decision yesterday, following, 2023, following an application for abridgement of time filed by the former Minister.
Justice Edward Twum on Wednesday ruled that the former Minister would suffer greater hardship if the application for abridgment was not heard earlier.
The court said for “the interest of fairness, justice and expeditious trial, the court will grant the applicant’s prayer before the court” and adopted the abridgement of time filed on behalf of the former Minister.
The Court on August 31, 2023, threw out the first application by the OSP to freeze the former Minister’s account.
It, therefore, ordered the OSP on September 5, 2023, to release Mrs Dapaah’s funds.
The OSP, however, filed another application and froze the accounts.
On September 20, 2023, the OSP served her freezing application and October 18, 2023, was fixed for hearing of the application.
Earlier, Victoria Barth, lead counsel for the ex-Minister noted that the delay in determining the application for abridgment of time would cause undue hardship to her client.
Source: ghanaweb.com
