Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame, is challenging Dr Dominic Akurutinga Ayine, the current Attorney General and Minister of Justice to produce the memo advising the discontinuation of the criminal trial of Dr Johnson Pandit Asiama.
“I challenge Dr Ayine to produce such a memo for the examination of the public as he has touted same to the public at a press conference as the basis for his impugned actions,” Mr Dame said.
He was speaking at a press conference on Friday, February 14, 2025, in Accra to respond to an earlier press conference organised by Dr Ayine to explain to Ghanaians the reasons his office discontinued some high profile criminal cases.
On Wednesday, February 11, Dr Ayine at a press conference said that Mr Dame received a memo from the prosecution advising the discontinuation of the trial of Dr Asiama, who is now the Governor of Bank of Ghana.
However, Dame insists that he does not recall receiving any such memo from the prosecution.
“Let me state for the record that, to the best of my knowledge, no such memorandum exists. I do not recall receiving any such memo from the Prosecutions Division,” the former Attorney General added.
He told journalists that when Dr Ayinne was probed, the minister claimed that he (Dame) might have disagreed with the memo.
“Curiously, when probed further on that issue in the “Questions” session of his press conference, Dr Ayine claimed that I might have disagreed with the memo, and that, he is yet to know the exact comments I made on the memo.
Mr Dame said it was bewildering and casts doubts on Dr Ayine’s assertions that a memo was presented to “me on the issue.”
“Will my comments or the position I took on the memo not be expressed on the memo?” Mr Dame asked.
“How can Dr Ayine see the memo but not see my comments in the memo? Clearly, the Attorney-General set out to throw dust into the eyes of Ghanaians who, in his view, are a bunch of unanalytical people. Ghana deserves better than the tales of Dr Ayine,” Mr Dame queried.
Mr Dame said that he carried out his work diligently pursuant to the Constitution, 1992.
He said the reasons given for the discontinuation of the high profile cases against some members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) were untenable.
Mr Dame said Ghanaians should be worried by the conduct of Dr Ayine.
“Dr Ayine himself alleges that he had some discussions with the DPP before withdrawing the cases in issue. Where he disagreed, he made it known to the DPP. Was the DPP’s view binding on Dr Ayine? Was it not his view of the charges he withdrew which prevailed? If Dr Ayine could form a view of the charges he withdrew from the court in spite of what the DPP told him, how can he castigate Godfred Dame in the media for whatever views Godfred Dame took on a memo allegedly presented to him by some state attorneys who Dr Ayine cannot name, on a date he cannot specify and affecting some accused persons he could not specify. (Mind you, there are six accused persons in the matter. Did the memo touch on all six? Dr Ayine fails to tell).”
The former Attorney General and Minister of Justice asked Dr Ayine to accept responsibility for his action in withdrawing and filing nolle prosequi in all the cases, rather than purporting to blame former Attorneys-General for his decisions.
BY MALIK SULLEMANA
