The Member of Parliament for Manhyia South, Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, has accused the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine, of creating what he described as a “separate justice system” for members and associates of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

According to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP, a series of decisions by the Attorney General to discontinue prosecutions involving individuals associated with the NDC government has raised serious concerns about selective accountability.

Mr Awuah was responding to the NDC’s dismissal of the NPP’s concerns over the Attorney General’s handling of cases involving politically exposed persons linked to the governing party.

He said the Attorney General’s decision to file nolle prosequi applications in some cases involving former NDC appointees and senior party members had undermined public confidence in his ability to independently investigate and prosecute allegations involving politically connected persons.

“We now have an Attorney General who has established a separate justice system for members of the NDC,” he alleged.

Mr Awuah also questioned the Attorney General’s justification for discontinuing some cases on the grounds that they had remained before the courts for several years.

He argued that the mere length of time a case had spent in court could not, on its own, constitute sufficient grounds for discontinuing a prosecution.

He further criticised the Attorney General over the handling of the Unibank case, particularly his refusal, according to Mr Awuah, to provide Parliament with details of a proposed plea bargain involving the accused persons.

The MP said the lack of transparency in such matters made it difficult for the public to have confidence in the Attorney General when dealing with cases involving members or associates of the governing NDC.

Mr Awuah said the NPP was therefore calling for investigations into the allegations to be conducted strictly on the basis of evidence rather than political affiliation.

He also demanded clarification over the identity and alleged role of a person described in United States court proceedings as a relative of then-President John Dramani Mahama in connection with the AKSA Energy deal.

According to him, investigators must establish the identity of the individual, the nature of the person’s relationship with President Mahama, the company or entity with which the individual was associated, and the role allegedly played in the AKSA transaction.

He also wants investigators to determine whether the individual received any payment and, if so, how much and for what purpose.

“The Ghanaian public deserves to know who this person was. What was the person's relationship with President John Dramani Mahama? What company or entity was the person associated with? What role did the person play in the AKSA transaction?” he asked.

Mr Awuah said the questions were particularly important given similarities he drew between the AKSA matter and the Airbus controversy, in which court records also referred to a person described as a relative of a senior Ghanaian official.

The Manhyia South MP argued that the investigation should determine whether the alleged relative’s involvement had any influence on the approval process for the AKSA project.

His comments come amid renewed scrutiny of the AKSA Energy power project following the conviction in the United States of former Goldman Sachs banker and former Tema Oil Refinery Managing Director Asante Kwaku Berko in a bribery and money-laundering case linked to the project.

According to the NPP, it has no confidence in the Attorney General to independently investigate or prosecute persons implicated in the latest bribery allegations surrounding the AKSA Energy power project.

The party argues that the investigation must be conducted in a manner that inspires public confidence, particularly because some of the persons who could come under scrutiny are allegedly politically connected to NDC.