A former Director of the Ghana School of Law and private legal practitioner, Mr Ansah Asare, is calling for the resignation of the Attorney-General, Godfred Yeboah Dame.
According to the legal luminary, Mr Dame is experienced and well aware of the law; therefore, meeting with an accused person to enter into a plea bargain in the manner that it has been reported raises questions.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Midday News, he explained that the Attorney General is a lawyer for the state; therefore, it is not right for the plaintiff to meet the accused behind closed doors as he did.
“My candid opinion is that the learned Attorney General knows or is deemed to know the law. Apart from the judges, I think the other person we can say the law rest in his bosom is the Attorney-General.
"The Attorney-General ought to know where, how and when he has to meet accused persons and in the residence of a sitting justice of the Supreme Court, this is scandalous and the Attorney General must resign or the president must fire him,” he said.
His comments come on the back of allegations by Richard Jakpa, the third accused in the ambulance purchase trial, that the Attorney General previously approached him to help build a case against the Minority Leader and former Deputy Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson.
Under cross examination by counsel for the Minority Leader, Jakpa was cautioned by the trial judge, Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe to be direct in his responses and avoid wasting the time of the court.
In response to the judge's caution, Attorney-General Yeboah Dame accused Jakpa of defending the Minority Leader.
This accusation prompted Mr Jakpa to retort that the Attorney-General seemed aggrieved because he had previously failed to get him [Jakpa] to help the state build a case against Dr Ato Forson.
“The A-G has on several occasions engaged me at odd hours to help him make a case against A1 and I have evidence for that.. If he pushes me, I will open the Pandora’s box. I don’t understand why the A-G will accuse me of defending A1 when I’m here to defend myself,” Mr Jakpa said in court.
Subsequently, Spokesperson for the Department, Isaac Wilberforce Mensah, stated that during the time the meeting took place, Mr Jakpa was not represented by counsel. For this reason, the Attorney-General met him and a Supreme Court judge at the pre-negotiation stage.
However, Mr Ansah recalled that in 1975, a similar plea bargain in the case of The Republic vs. Dr Isaac Ohene Gyan resulted in the Attorney-General at the time, Justice Austin Amissah, losing his position.
As such, he argued that Mr Dame should advice himself and resign.
Both the AG and the accused have threatened to release further evidence to fortify their cases. Other lawyers have also called on the right state institutions to investigate the matter since it has serious implications for justice delivery in the country.
Credit: Connielove Mawutornyo Dzodzegbe