The Minister for Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has been sued by Lightwave HealthCare Solutions for allegedly making statements that were “malicious falsehoods with no element of truth” to impugn its business operations.
This, according to the Plaintiff Company, is affecting its economic fortunes and relationships with its affiliates.
According to the Plaintiff, prior to the Defendant’s statements, the Plaintiff and its Parent Company in the United States of America were engaged in advanced discussions with the World Bank for a proposed electronic healthcare partnership valued at approximately Fifty Million United States Dollars (US$50,000,000).
However, statements made by Mr Akandoh caused the suspension of the said proposed partnership, resulting in substantial financial losses to the Plaintiff as well as its Parent Company owing to negative reportage leading to the World Bank suspending the aforesaid proposed partnership to the detriment of the Plaintiff’s business operations.
The suit, filed at the High Court in Accra by the Plaintiff, which operates electronic healthcare systems and digital health infrastructure within Ghana and internationally, seeks five major reliefs.
First, the Plaintiff is seeking a declaration that the statements made by the Defendant against the business operations of the Plaintiff Company were malicious falsehoods with no element of truth whatsoever and were made to impugn the business operations of the Plaintiff Company, thereby affecting the economic fortunes of the Plaintiff Company and/or its affiliates.
Secondly, it is seeking an order directed at the Defendant (Mr Akandoh) to retract and issue a public apology to the Plaintiff Company within terms to be approved by the Court in respect of all statements made against the Plaintiff Company that have no truth whatsoever in them and which were made to impugn the business operations of the Plaintiff.
Thirdly, “Damages in the form of compensation to be determined by the Court for economic losses that have occasioned the Plaintiff Company from the Defendant’s falsehoods and/or statements.”
The fourth relief: “General damages to be determined by the Court as and when it deems fit, inclusive of the cost of this suit as well as incidental legal fees being incurred.”
The fifth is “Any further relief or reliefs as this Honourable Court may deem fit to make in the circumstances.”
Read below excerpts of Statement of Case
It is the case of the Plaintiff that in or about the Year 2019, it entered into a written contract with the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Ghana, for the provision of designated electronic healthcare and medical record services as set out in the aforesaid Contract.
It is again the case of the Plaintiff that in or about the Year 2016, its Parent Company, lawfully incorporated in the United States of America, entered into a written contract with the same Ministry of Health of the Republic of Ghana, for similar electronic healthcare services delivery and that same was duly and fully performed on or about the Year 2017.
Plaintiff avers that the successful performance and execution of Contract No. MOH/E-HEALTH/NHIA/2016/01 formed the basis upon which the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Ghana entered into Contract No. MOH/E-HEALTH/PHS2/2019 with the Plaintiff, more so as the lawful assigns who carried out Contract No. MOH/E-HEALTH/NHIA/2016/01 are the same lawful assigns who carried out Contract No. MOH/E-HEALTH/PHS2/2019.
Plaintiff avers further that Contract No. MOH/E-HEALTH/PHS2/2019 came to an end on or about December 2024 and at the time of the expiration of the aforesaid Contract, the Defendant herein had not yet assumed office as the Minister for Health for the Republic of Ghana.
Plaintiff says that following the expiration of Contract No. MOH/E-HEALTH/PHS2/2019, and in the absence of any subsisting contract, the Defendant, who at the material time was acting as Minister for Health of the Republic of Ghana, induced and prevailed upon the Plaintiff to continue providing critical electronic healthcare services to the aforesaid Ministry of Health, and which the Plaintiff in good faith continued to provide without complaint for well over eight months and has not been paid to date.
Plaintiff says further that on or about the 2nd day of September 2025, and at a time when there was no existing contract relationship between the Plaintiff and the Ministry of Health, which was being headed by the Defendant, the Defendant requested the Plaintiff as a Company to attend a meeting ostensibly convened for the purpose of resolving ongoing contractual and payment issues in respect of services provided at a time when there was no contract between the parties.
Plaintiff again states further that out of respect for its former business partner, being the Ministry of Health which at the material time was headed by the Defendant, it attended that aforesaid meeting which was called at the instance of the Defendant and at a time when there was no contract between the parties.
Plaintiff avers that the aforesaid meeting called by the Defendant in his capacity as the Minister of Health was contentious, unproductive and no resolution was reached in respect of all matters.
Plaintiff avers further that following the said meeting, the Defendant embarked upon a series of public statements, including media interviews, parliamentary remarks, and public engagements, in which he published and/or caused to be published false and defamatory statements concerning the Plaintiff and/or its lawful assigns.
Plaintiff again avers that the interviews and public engagements embarked upon by the Defendant sought to impute falsehoods and alleged criminality to the Plaintiff and its lawful assigns and sought to create the false impression that the Plaintiff Company had cheated and/or short-changed the people of the Republic of Ghana in respect of works carried out by the Plaintiff pursuant to the aforesaid Contract No. MOH/E-HEALTH/PHS2/2019.
It is the case of the Plaintiff that on or about October and November 2025, the Defendant in his bid and/or attempt to discredit the works of the Plaintiff Company and to discredit its operations alleged, inter alia, that:
i) The Plaintiff Company had misrepresented the number of healthcare facilities implemented under Contract No. MOH/E-HEALTH/PHS2/2019 and that the Plaintiff has been paid more than the actual works carried out by the Plaintiff in the course of the aforesaid Contract.
(ii) Electronic medical records of Ghanaian citizens here in the Republic of Ghana were being hosted and controlled by an entity in India rather than by the Government of Ghana.
(iii) The Plaintiff Company fraudulently billed and received an amount of $11 Million United States Dollars in or about the Year 2024 and further that the Plaintiff Company had received payment from the Government of Ghana for approximately One Hundred and Fifty-Seven working sites when, in reality, the Plaintiff had only delivered a total of Seven working sites.
(iv) The Defendant again went on ‘Onua’ Television, which is a media house here in Ghana, on a morning program known as ‘Maakye’ which is hosted by a popular media journalist known as ‘Captain Smart’, and intimated that the Plaintiff Company, whom he made mention of, had been paid a total amount of Seventy-Seven Million United States Dollars out of a total contract sum of One Hundred Million United States Dollars for works carried out without any monitoring and/or evaluation.
(v) The Defendant had also indicated on that same platform, being the aforesaid program at ‘Onua’ Television, that the Plaintiff Company had only carried out works on 450 health facilities instead of the 950 facilities and claimed, among others, that the Plaintiff’s software, being the Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS) which was deployed pursuant to the terms and conditions of Contract Number: MOH/E-HEALTH/PHS2/2019, was not working throughout Ghana, for which the Defendant claimed the Plaintiff underperformed and showed bad faith to the people of Ghana.
Plaintiff avers that all the statements made above by the Defendant were false, misleading and churned out to create disaffection with the Plaintiff’s operations here in the Republic of Ghana, for which an audit exercise would have shown the falsehoods in same and there would have been no basis for the Defendant to make those statements.
It is the case of the Plaintiff that all facilities worked on by the Plaintiff Company under Contract No. MOH/E-HEALTH/PHS2/2019 aforesaid were properly documented, verified, and acknowledged through Ministry of Health validation processes, for which a cursory ascertainment of same by the Defendant would not have led him to make the falsehoods, more so as he was at the material time in charge of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Ghana.
It is again the case of the Plaintiff that at no material time were any electronic medical records of citizens of Ghana hosted anywhere outside the Republic of Ghana or in India specifically pursuant to the execution of Contract No. MOH/E-HEALTH/PHS2/2019 between the Plaintiff and the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Ghana, and that the Plaintiff Company did not receive an amount of $11 Million United States Dollars in or about the Year 2024 as was being contended by the Defendant in his public engagements.
Plaintiff again states that all invoices for payments submitted by the Plaintiff were processed strictly in accordance with established Ministry of Health and Ministry of Finance procedures, including validation of facilities delivered, and that no such payment was requested or received by the Plaintiff in the Year 2024, a fact verifiable through the Ministry of Health’s own records, the Ministry of Finance or the Plaintiff’s audited business accounts.
Plaintiff avers that the Defendant herein made the aforesaid statements recklessly, without verification, and should have been wary of information churned out within the public space, mindful of the fact that he occupied an important position and has access to accurate information within the Ministry of Health, for which his statutory responsibility to act fairly, responsibly, and in good faith should have come to play in the discharge of his duties.
It is the case of the Plaintiff that these personal statements made at various times by the Defendant injuriously caused damage to the Plaintiff’s business operations not only here in Ghana but in particular the United States, where the Plaintiff Company lost contracts arising out of the Defendant’s falsehoods, bearing in mind the fact that the world is presently a global platform where news and in particular false news travels faster.
Plaintiff avers that the Defendant’s aforesaid erroneous statements made in his public engagements were made maliciously and/or with reckless disregard for the truth and made with the intent to injure the Plaintiff’s reputation and business operations and were widely disseminated through traditional and digital media platforms within and outside the Republic of Ghana and ended up affecting the Plaintiff’s reputation not only here in Ghana but that of its Parent Company incorporated in the United States of America.
Plaintiff avers that as a direct and proximate consequence of the Defendant’s reckless statements, and made with disregard for truth, it suffered substantial damage to its commercial reputation and goodwill.
Plaintiff avers further that prior to the Defendant’s statements, the Plaintiff Company based here in the Republic of Ghana and its Parent Company in the United States of America were engaged in advanced discussions with the World Bank for a proposed electronic healthcare partnership valued at approximately Fifty Million United States Dollars (US$50,000,000).
The Plaintiff says that the Defendant’s statements caused the suspension of the said proposed partnership, resulting in substantial financial losses to the Plaintiff as well as its Parent Company owing to negative reportage leading to the World Bank suspending the aforesaid proposed partnership to the detriment of the Plaintiff’s business operations.
Plaintiff states that the false impressions created by the Defendant publicly about the operations of the Plaintiff Company sought to portray the Plaintiff as well as all its affiliates as unreliable business partners and same has been injurious to the business operations of the Plaintiff not only here in Ghana but the world over, more so as the utterances of the Defendant have been reported on various news portals to the detriment of the Plaintiff’s commercial reputation and business operations.
Plaintiff states further that if the Defendant had carried out a thorough appraisal of the terms of the Contract entered into between the Plaintiff and the Ministry of Health, being the aforesaid Contract No. MOH/E-HEALTH/PHS2/2019, he would have come to the realization that the statements he made at various platforms/public engagements were at best false, for which the Defendant owes the Plaintiff Company an apology among others.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
