Apologize and retract your “false” Napo birthday story — Lawyers to Daily Guide newspaper

Lawyers for Minister of Energy and MP for Manhyia South, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, affectionately called Napo, have written to the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Guide newspaper demanding an apology and retraction of a news article alleging that the minister spent his 55th birthday in Monaco.

In a letter dated June 1, 2023, and signed by Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah Esq., a Senior Partner at Sarkodie Baffour Awuah & Partners, the lawyers described the claims contained in the Daily Guide’s May 31 issue as “completely false.”

The Daily Guide article, with the headline “Napo Celebrates Birthday in Monaco,” alleged that Dr. Opoku Prempeh “recently spent his 55th birthday last week in the exquisite and highly trendy city of Monaco” and reportedly “flew into Monaco by a private jet from Dubai” to “witness part of the Formula 1 car racing championship.”

But according to the lawyers, “On our client's birthday the 23rd of May 2023)he was in Ghana and attended a meeting of the Economic Management Team (EMT).”

They added that Dr. Opoku Prempeh “also attended a meeting of the Governing Board of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) on the 23rd of May 2023, which said meeting was chaired by Mr. Freddie Blay.”

The lawyers described the publication as “a malicious attempt to court public disaffection for him, for reasons best known to you.”

“We accordingly have our client's further instructions to demand the following: a retraction in the next Issue of the Daily Guide Newspaper, of the aforementioned blatant and false statements about our client with the same prominence you gave the statements complained of, upon receipt of this letter; an unqualified apology in the next Issue of the Daily Guide Newspaper for peddling the aforementioned blatant and false statements about our client, upon receipt of this letter,” the letter stated.

See copies of the suit documents below;