Godfred Yeboah-Dame
The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah-Dame, has asked the public to ignore accusations made by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) against him.
The NDC had disputed a legal opinion given by Godfred Dame on a report produced by the former Chairman of the dedfunt Inter-Ministerial Committee against Illegal Mining (IMCIM), Prof Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng.
The opposition party had inferred that the Attorney-General’s legal advice was an attempt to cover up the report’s “damning” findings.
The Minister of Justice has said that the accusations made by the NDC were lacking in proof but formed part of an ongoing campaign against him.
Speaking at a press conference addressed by the National Communications Officer of the party, Sammy Gyamfi, the NDC alleged that the Attorney-General’s advice referring to portions of the report as lacking evidence is nothing but a cover-up and an attempt to whitewash the damning report.
The opposition party went further to describe his legal advice as “a poor attempt to cover-up”.
However, Mr. Yeboah-Dame through a press release has denied the allegations, insisting that he had to uphold the rule of law and prosecute all criminals, regardless of the party they belong to.
He pointed out that he cannot advise for the prosecution of individuals when there is a lack of evidence.
He added that he is committed to upholding the rule of law and prosecuting all criminals, regardless of their political affiliation.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, October 18, 2023, Mr Yeboah-Dame said the NDC’s accusations are nothing but a desperate attempt to cover up for their own failures to fight the galamsey menace when they were in power.
“In spite of a multitude of allegations and invectives spewed on me by the Communications Officer of the NDC, not a single piece of evidence was furnished by the NDC in proof of any allegation made by Prof. Frimpong-Boateng against any person named in his report. The entire NDC’s press conference was, in point of fact, vitiated by a fraudulent attempt at explaining their orchestrated lies and abuses against me, as they are wont to do.
“The wild allegation that I am engaged in an exercise to cover up crimes allegedly committed by them is therefore perplexing, dubious and mischievous to say the least. I deem that press conference by the NDC as only the latest in the series of attacks on me for decisions taken in the regular course of my functions as Attorney-General which that political party finds to be
inimical to its interests.
“I respectfully urge the public to utterly disregard the discredited assertions of the NDC as unmeritorious and lacking any form of credibility. It is the height of injustice to prosecute people for crimes when there is no evidence. It is for this reason that the Office of Attorney-General did not prosecute either Prof Frimpong-Boateng or his son, Jojo Frimpong-Boateng in the face of allegations by the Adansiman Progressive Association that they were seriously engaged in Galamsey.”
By Vincent Kubi