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Labour Minister sued by Ferguson for over $50M in libel case
Kaieteur News – APNU+AFC parliamentarian and former Housing Minister, Annette Ferguson has filed a lawsuit claiming in excess of $50 million in damages against current Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton.
Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton.
According to the legal documents drafted by her attorney Lyndon Amsterdam, Ferguson is seeking damages from Hamilton for statements he made defaming her during an interview broadcast on the National Communications Network (NCN) and live-streamed on the People’s Progressive Party Facebook page.
In the document, Ferguson contended that, during the interview, Hamilton spoke about topics of a political nature and about several persons under the previous A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change government who are under investigation or have been charged in connection with the sale or transfer of lands.
Former Housing Minister, Annette Ferguson.
According to the claimant, Hamilton‘s words “…the other people who were following and chanting they are misled and misdirected and in some instances many of them also have vested interest because um… my good friend Ferguson, Annette would feel that. You know if they start with Trevor, they gon reach me one day because I gat, I took four house lots as a Minister, you understand,” could be implied to mean that she wrongfully used her office and power as a Minister to acquire more than one house lot when this is not true.
She explained too that the reference to Trevor is to Trevor Benn, former Commissioner of Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission who was dismissed by the present government and was subsequently arrested, detained and charged and placed before the Courts for alleged corrupt transactions involving State lands.
The former minister stressed too that Hamilton was without justification when he suggested that as a government minister, she is the holder of more than one parcel of land. She noted that he has not provided any evidence to support the veracity of the statements. She emphasized too that the deliberate and intentional falsehood was intended to tarnish her reputation as a former government minister and Member of Parliament, and to cause right-thinking persons to think that she is a corrupt and dishonest person.
As a result, Ferguson claims, the Labour Minister caused her to become distressed, alarmed, and ashamed of herself after she was contacted by several persons who heard the interview and claimed to believe his utterances. She noted too that the falsehoods uttered by Minister Hamilton have “tarnished her character, lowered her estimation and reputation by right–thinking persons, and brought her position as a former Government Minister and Member of Parliament into disrepute.”
Ferguson said too that as a member the Assembly of God Church on Durban Street, Georgetown and she is expected to uphold the Christian principles of piety, honesty and moral turpitude and the statements made by Hamilton are likely to bring her character and integrity into disrepute among her fellow parishioners.
She is also contending that the effect of the false statements uttered by Hamilton is that they are likely to be believed by unsuspecting members of the public and are likely to bring her into odium, disrepute and lower her reputation in the estimation of all right-thinking persons in society who know her as a former Minister and a Member of Parliament.
Ferguson also pointed out in the document that Hamilton is not the first to make such claims against her. She said that the claims were previously uttered by Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo in his capacity as the leader of the Opposition and the General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party /Civic. Ferguson noted that there is another matter engaging the court where she sued Jagdeo for libel. In that case, Ferguson was awarded $20M for libel but Jagdeo has appealed the judgment.
The former Minister noted nonetheless that she would not want those claims to be repeated in the public domain.
As a result, in addition to the $50M claim, Ferguson requested an injunction restraining Minister Hamilton, his servants and/or agents from uttering, repeating and/or disseminating to the members of the Press and the public either by audio broadcast, print, social media or electronically on television or on the World Wide Web words similar to those uttered.
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