Godfred Yeboah Dame
Former Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has accused his successor, Dr. Dominic Ayine of whitewashing former appointees of the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration, by dropping the criminal cases initiated against them by the NPP government.
According to him, the posture adopted by the Attorney General threatens to undermine Ghana’s democratic and good governance structures.
He also points out that Dr. Ayine’s justification for the discontinuation of the cases is a “knee-jerk reaction to genuine concerns raised by well-meaning Ghanaians on the attempt by the NDC Government to whitewash the crimes of persons who served in the NDC government and as far as the law would allow, clothe them with perpetual immunity from being prosecuted for offences committed against the Republic of Ghana.”
Mr. Dame said he is, however, reassured by the fact that Ghanaians are discerning enough to discover the illegitimate motives for the discontinuance of the cases in question.
“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,” he pointed out.
Mr. Dame was speaking at a press conference in Accra in reaction to Dr. Ayine’s justification for the discontinuation of some of the cases against former NDC appointees.
Dr. Ayine at a press conference last Wednesday indicated that he decided to discontinue the trials on three grounds the first being that for ethical and professional reasons, he could not in good conscience continue to prosecute some of the cases.
The second reason, he said was that, for some of the cases, his review and analysis of the charges showed clearly that the charges were defective, and some were filed against the promptings of plain commonsense.
“The third reason was that, in some of the cases, the evidence led so far showed that there was reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the accused persons and no prosecutor should continue to pursue a case in the face of overwhelming doubt regarding the guilt of the accused,” he indicated.
But the former Attorney General disagrees with these reasons, pointing out that, “these developments “irresistibly point to only one conclusion – a calculated, preconceived ploy on the part of the NDC to wipe out all criminal cases pending against its leading members and officials of the John Mahama Government and clear them of wrongdoing, not by the courts, but through their Attorney-General,” he said.
Terminated Cases
The Office of the Attorney General has since the final week of January 2025, discontinued six major trials initiated by the former administration against the former NDC appointees who according to the previous Attorney General had caused over GH₵1.08 billion, $214.8 million, and €2.37 million financial loss to the state in various transactions.
They include the trial of Dr. Stephen Opuni and Seidu Agongo; Alhaji Collins Dauda in the Saglemi Housing project scandal; Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson and Richard Jakpa in the ambulance case; Dr. Johnson Asiama in the UT Bank and Unibank case; and Ernest Thompson and three others in the SSNIT OBS suit scandal.
Again, the AG dropped the trial of a former National Chairman of the NDC, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, and a Communication Officer of the party, Anthony Kweku Boahen, who were charged for allegedly planning to assault the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC) and some officials of the Peace Council.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak