Godfred Yeboah Dame
Godfred Yeboah Dame, former Attorney General and Minister for Justice has taken a swipe at President Johnson Dramani Mahama and his successor, Dr. Dominic Ayine, describing them as clearing agents who are discontinuing the criminal proceedings against former NDC appointees.
“The President, through his Attorney General, has spectacularly, become the clearing agent to indemnify their allies who have duly been put before the courts for commission of crimes.”
The former Attorney General also asserts that it could not be the case that the Attorney General solely decided to discontinue the cases against some high-profile members of the NDC without consulting the President or cabinet on such a monumental decision.
Mr. Dame, speaking at a press conference in response to Dr. Ayine’s justifications for discontinuing the cases, suggested that the AG’s claim is an attempt to shield the President from any blame given the public outcry following the decision to either withdraw charges or discontinue some of the cases.
Responsibility
Dr. Ayine speaking at a press conference on Wednesday said he takes full responsibility for discontinuing some high-profile cases initiated against some former appointees of the previous NDC administration.
According to him, he is not under instructions or pressure from anyone to discontinue the cases or bring charges against anyone.
He indicated that even President John Dramani Maham has no hand in the decision to drop the cases, hence urging the public to desist from calling the President a ‘clearing agent.’
“As the Attorney General, I take absolute responsibility for all the decisions taken so far. I am not under any instructions or pressure to discontinue any case or to bring charges against one.
Those who are in a haste to tag the President as a clearing agent should hasten slowly because he is not responsible for prosecutions and has not directed me to drop any case,” Dr. Ayine pointed out.
Dame Disagrees
But his predecessor, Godfred Yebboah Dame disagreed with that assertion, indicating that a careful examination of the facts shows that the Attorney General’s claim that he did not consult the President before taking the decision “is palpably untrue.”
“The nation has not forgotten the loud claims made by President John Mahama and the NDC that the NPP rather, was responsible for a collapse of the banking sector and that on assuming power, the John Mahama government will restore all the banking licences which were revoked.
The withdrawal of the cases in question is only the first step of the clearing or whitewashing process of those whose acts led to the crisis that plagued the banking sector.
Ghanaians are certainly more discerning than the NDC and Dr. Ayine think,” Mr. Dame noted.
He, however, noted that Ghanaians should be worried that the prosecutorial powers of the country have been vested in a person who can decide to discontinue these cases without any recourse to the President and his cabinet.
“Even more scary and bizarre is the claim of Dr. Ayine that he did not consult the President, John Dramani Mahama before taking the monumental decision to discontinue the criminal case,” he said.
Mr. Dame pointed out that the cases involved the loss of colossal sums of taxpayers’ money and some related to the banking sector crisis which affected the Ghanaian economy.
“The people of Ghana should indeed be extremely concerned and afraid by the vesting of prosecutorial authority in a person who can discontinue the prosecution of such important and high-profile cases without discussing with the President of the Republic and members of the Cabinet. Even defence counsel he consulted, how much more the President?” the former AG queried.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak