Karen Baaba Sam, a Ghanaian mother locked in a prolonged legal struggle with her former partner over custody of their six-year-old daughter, has filed an application at the High Court in Accra, seeking to overturn an earlier order that permitted substituted service of a contempt application against her. Filed on July 9, 2024, the motion is set for hearing on July 24, 2025.
Baaba Sam’s affidavit claims that the contempt application was improperly served on her lawyers’ premises without any prior effort to reach her personally, as required by law. She argues that her ex-partner, Nana Kwadwo Adjei, secured the substituted service order without offering proof of failed personal service, which she believes undermines her constitutional right to a fair legal process.
She pointed out that the contempt application was filed at 10:54 a.m. on June 23, 2025, and by 11:02 a.m. — just eight minutes later — Nana Adjei had already submitted an ex parte motion asking to serve her by posting the application at her lawyer’s office. The court granted that request two days later, on June 25, 2025.
Baaba Sam insists that the court’s order allowing this method of service violated proper legal procedure and was obtained without justification. She maintains that the order should be revoked, as it does not meet the requirements for substituted service under Ghanaian civil procedure.
In a related development, Baaba Sam has submitted a petition to the Acting Chief Justice, Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, dated July 1, 2025. In it, she raises concern over what she describes as a pattern of judicial misconduct in her case. She alleges that certain magistrates and justices have enabled her ex-partner’s abuse of the legal process, resulting in continuous and unnecessary litigation.
The petition, titled “Reminder on previous petitions and further petition against continued abuse by Mr. Kwadwo Adjei and some judges,” has also been sent to the President of Ghana, the Judicial Council, Attorney General Dr. Dominic Ayine, and the Registrar of the High Court. In it, she expresses frustration over the lack of resolution on her earlier complaints and says that the current situation reflects a broader failure of the system to protect her and her child.
Baaba Sam has previously made public allegations of domestic abuse, stating that she suffered years of physical, verbal, and emotional harm at the hands of Nana Adjei. According to her, the abuse began in 2016 and escalated after she became pregnant in 2018. She has recalled incidents where she was left with visible injuries and described how one of Nana Adjei’s sons moved out of their home after enduring beatings. Although her brother reported the assaults to police in East Legon, she says no action was taken.
What began as a private custody matter has since become a drawn-out legal ordeal. Baaba Sam maintains that she is not only fighting for custody but also seeking justice in the face of what she sees as an unfair and biased legal system that has failed to protect her rights and those of her daughter.
