Our attention has been drawn to an “advice” from the office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice dated 21st March, 2024, addressed to the Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament.

In the said advice, the Attorney-General, Mr. Godfred Yeboah Dame, questioned the well-reasoned decision of the Rt. Hon. Speaker Alban Bagbin in upholding the pendency of a relief for an interlocutory injunction in the matter of Rockson-Nelson K. Etse Defeamekpor v. The Speaker of Parliament and the Attorney-General, in relation to the approval of the President’s nominees for Ministerial and Deputy Ministerial appointments by the Parliament.

It is worth noting that whereas the Attorney-General in the letter to the Speaker purported to fault the Speaker’s ruling in the issue referenced above, he rather vindicated the position taken by the Rt. Hon. Speaker who merely took a cue from a precedent that was set by President Akufo-Addo based on an “advice” from this same Attorney-General.

The Attorney-General’s claim that Mr. Speaker erred because there was no injunction in respect of the above-named suit is not borne out by the facts. The Speaker of Parliament rather stands vindicated in his decision to err on the side of caution, in view of the expressed injunctive relief that had been stated in the writ of summons, a copy of which was duly served on the Rt. Hon. Speaker on the 19th of March, 2024. By law, the plaintiff had 14 days to file a statement of case and an application for interlocutory injunction from the day that the Writ of Summons was issued.

On the contrary, it would be recalled that President Akufo-Addo informed members of the Diplomatic Corps at a meeting at the Peduase Lodge on 4th March, 2024, of a supposed court case at the Supreme Court. The President even went on to state that he was restrained by the filing of a Writ of Summons from assenting to the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill.

It turned out that as of the time that the President was speaking to members of the Diplomatic Corps on the 4th of March, 2024, the writ had not yet been filed in the Supreme Court. The writ was subsequently filed on 5th March, 2024.

If we may ask, between the Rt. Hon. Speaker ,who was served with a writ of summons, and the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who acted on the advice of the same Attorney-General on an injunction from a non-existent writ, which of them showed fidelity to the law? The answer obviously is the Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament.

The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Godfred Dame needs nobody to tell him to stop exposing himself by the unwarranted attacks on the Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament. Mr. Dame has demonstrated time without number that he cannot prioritise the national interest over his party’s parochial and self-serving interest. Consistently, he behaves like a regime lawyer and constantly displays arrogance and unbridled partisanship in the discharge of his duties.

If there ever was a time that decoupling the position of the Attorney-General from that of the Minister of Justice was pressing and relevant, it is now. Clearly, the conduct of Hon. Godfred Dame as Attorney-General and Minister of Justice epitomises all that is inherently wrong in keeping both positions in the same person.

END

HON. CASSIEL ATO FORSON (Ph.D.), MP.
MINORITY LEADER

MONDAY, 25TH MARCH, 2024
ACCRA