The Director of Legal Affairs for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Abraham Amaliba, has indicated that Attroney-General Godfred Dame should have been a goner in any serious jurisdiction.
He said that Mr Dame is still at post just to do the bidding of President Akufo-Addo and former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta in prosecuting the first accused, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, in the ambulance purchase trial.
Moreover, the NDC Communicator underscored that Mr Dame’s conduct in the audio conversation brought disgrace to the office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.
Mr Amaliba disagreed with the trial judge’s decision to offer advice instead of an order for the Attorney-General to recuse himself from the case.
The third accused person, businessman Richard Jakpa, in his affidavit to the court for a stay of prosecution or the court dropped all charges against him, alleged that the Attorney-General “explained to me that the first accused’s prosecution had to be undertaken because of pressure from the former Minister for Finance [Ken Ofori Atta and the President],” adding that the A-G “assured me repeatedly that I was not the target of the prosecution.”
However, the judge dismissed all four applications filed by the first and third accused persons, Dr Ato Forson and Richard Jakpa, seeking, amongst other reliefs, a stay of prosecution and for a mistrial hearing due to the alleged misconduct of the A-G.
The trial judge, Justice Efia Serwah Asare-Botwey advised that Mr Godfred Dame recuse himself from the ongoing case in the interest of justice and the public.
But the private legal practitioner noted that the trial judge’s advice to Mr Dame was “a slap on the wrist.”
Abraham Amaliba made these observations when he appeared on TV3’s New Day programme on Friday, June 7, 2024.
“In some serious jurisdictions… the Attorney-General would have been a goner, even just in South Africa here because I have been following their legal system… this Attorney-General would have been a goner because when you listen to the tape this Attorney-General hugely misconducted himself.
“His misconduct is so reprehensible that no serious jurisdiction will still leave the Attorney-General to be sitting at where he is. But I know why he is there and he said it in the tape. He is doing the bidding of [President] Nana Akufo-Addo and then Ken Ofori Atta… he said that those were the people putting pressure on him to prosecute and get Ato Forson jailed,” he stressed on the show.
A-G snubs judge’s advice
Meanwhile, several calls from legal practitioners and anti-corruption civil society organisations for the dismissal of Mr Dame have yielded no results.
Following the court ruling on Thursday, Mr Dame showed no signs of regret for his alleged conduct of witness tampering.
He emphatically stated that he is still prosecuting the case against Minority Leader Dr Ato Forson and businessman Richard Jakpa.
“…The judge herself even after her ruling clarified that she has not given any such order at all but it is only an advice and what did you notice afterwards? I am conducting the matter, I am still conducting the trial.
“The most important point today is that all the applications filed by the applicants have been dismissed in their entirety,” Dame told journalists in front of the High Court building in Accra.
Source: 3news.com
