The flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) John Dramani Mahama has taken a swipe at the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General Godfred Dame.
Mr Mahama accused Mr Dame of acting like a legal representative of the New Patriotic Party rather than conducting himself as Minister of Justice and Attorney-General
Speaking exclusively with TV3’s Komla Klutse on the decision of the Court of Appeal to acquit and discharge the accused persons in the ambulance case, on Tuesday, July 30, the former President said “I think that this Attorney-General has been discredited enough, anywhere in the world, with the things we have seen, the coaching of witnesses, and discussions with witnesses, this prosecution would have been struck out as malicious prosecution.
“I believe this prosecution is malicious. He is not as robust and energetic in pursuing other cases, even as we speak there is an ambulance case involving this present administration which is hugely larger than what he is prosecuting, and yet he has no interest in that.
“He is like a legal representative of the NPP party, over-enthusiastic in pursuing political opponents. I have said that when we come it will be the reverse, we will pursue accountability for the regime that has gone out but at the same time if any of our people are involved in the same things that has happened, for which we are prosecuting the previous government, we will prosecute them too. So I think that the A-G is also the Minister of Justice, he forgets that, he thinks he is just the A-G. The Minister of Justice is supposed to ensure fairness. Anywhere else in this world, this case would have ended, he would never even have come to court .”
Mr Mahama further said he was pleasantly surprised by the Court of Appeal’s decision to acquit and discharge the accused persons in the ambulance trial.
He says the court ruling shows that there is still justice in Ghana.
“I think that it shows the vindication that [Ato Forson] is innocent. We believe that this prosecution should never have taken place. Indeed, it [Court of Appeal’s decision] came as a surprise because I had quite forgotten about the appeal.
“This appeal was made some time ago when they filed a no-case petition before the court and the High Court rejected it so they went to appeal. So it came as quite a pleasant surprise. But it shows that we still have justice in this country, we can work to make the judiciary that we want it to be,” he said.
On Tuesday, July 30 the High Court did not hear the Ambulance case in the light of the Court of Appeal’s decision to acquit and discharge the accused persons Dr Cassiel Ato Forson and Richard Jakpa.
The High Court was due to sit on Tuesday July 30 but on that same day, a Court of Appeal upheld an appeal on the Financial and Economic Court’s decision by Minority Leader and former Deputy Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson.
Two others, Sylvester Anemana, a former Chief of Director, Ministry of Health, and Richard Jakpa, a businessman, who were standing trial with Dr Forson were also directed to open defence.
Dr. Forson and the two have been variously charged with willfully causing financial loss to the state to the tune of 2.37 million Euros in the purchase of ambulances, which could not be used for their intended performance.
The Court of Appeal in its decision on July 30 indicated that the High Court’s decision should be set aside since “the prosecution failed to establish sufficient evidence. The trial judge erred in calling on A1(Dr Cassiel Ato Forson) to open his defence. No positively proven facts. Evidence based on Impermissible speculations. There is no link between the evidence heard and what happened for the third accused to be called to open defence.”
The panel of three justices also acquitted and discharged the accused persons in the case.
The post Godfred Dame has been discredited enough as A-G; he acts like a legal rep of the NPP – Mahama first appeared on 3News.
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