A leading member of the Movement for Change, Solomon Owusu, asserts that former Attorney-General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, should be the last person to criticise the current Attorney-General and the entire government.
He believes Dame lacks the moral authority to indulge in criticism, considering the controversies surrounding his tenure as Minister of Justice and Attorney-General in the Akufo-Addo administration.
According to Owusu, the former Attorney-General should go on hibernation until all the allegations levelled against him in the Ato Forson trial are cleared.
His comments come in the wake of Mr Dame’s claim that the Attorney-General, Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, peddled falsehoods in his press conference on the Ato Forson trial, regarding the duration of filing the witness statement for the case, and other issues.
According to Dame, it took him only 27 days to file the witness statement, but was wrongly reported by Dr. Ayine as six months, something he finds disturbing.
In a statement released by Dame on Tuesday, July 29, 2025, he condemned the Attorney-General for distorting the facts of the matter to the public.
Reacting to the development on TV3’s BigIssue on the NewDay morning show Wednesday, July 30, 2025, Owusu said, “what Godfred Dame wrote yesterday is what some of us have said in the past, except that he should be the last person to be [talking].”
According to Owusu, Dame “must also go on hibernation,” explaining that “his own character does not allow some of us to trust whatever he says.”
Owusu says the former Attorney-General, given his track record of allegedly coercing a witness to offer a false account in the Ato Forson trial, should prioritise clearing his name rather than pointing fingers.
“He should allow us to be dealing with the NDC at this stage. We have not dealt with the issue of match-fixing”, which he explained as “negotiating with the witness to get someone incarcerated.”
“Until he comes out clean on that tape, he must go into hiding. It’s so damning to Godfred Dame. He said Jakpa must give favourable witness so that it will nail Ato Forson. So until he is cleared of that wrongdoing [he shouldn’t criticise this administration],” he stated.
The Movement for Change stalwart further averred that the former Attorney-General’s deeds have wiped off his reputation, and shouldn’t attempt to position himself as a credible person.
“Reputation zero. Before me zero. So please, Godfred, you sit somewhere, let’s handle this NDC with care, deal with them constructively. The moment they enter into the fray, then they destroy everything,” Owusu explained.
Meanwhile, Godfred Dame in his statement insisted that Dr. Ayine, the current A-G, got it all wrong. Below is a portion of the statement he issued in counter to what Dr. Ayine’s press conference on Tuesday.
The penchant of the Attorney-General, Dr. Dominic Ayine, to peddle untruths in his press conferences is becoming quite alarming.
1. On 28th July, 2025, he stated with some boldness, that it took the Attorney-General six (6) months to file witness statements in the Republic vrs. Ato Forson & 2 Others trial. This is palpably false, just like many other statements by him.
The accused persons in the Republic Vrs. Ato Forson & 2 Others case were arraigned before court for the first time on 18th January, 2022. The court, on that day, gave directions for filing of disclosures after the grant of bail to all the accused and adjourned proceedings to 15th February, 2022. The Prosecution complied with the order of the court and filed all documents to rely on, including all intended exhibits, documents required by the defence and all witness statements of witnesses to be called by the Republic on 14th February, 2022 – within 27 days (less than one month), and not 6 months as wildly claimed by Dr. Ayine.
For the sake of banishing falsehoods and exposing the ways of the wicked, I hereby exhibit a copy of the record of proceedings for 18th January, 2022 and the process titled “Documents To Be Relied On” filed by the Attorney-General on 14th February, 2022.
The Office of the Attorney-General never, on a single occasion in the “Ato Forson” trial, requested further time to file a witness statement, or indeed, any document at all.
2. The important question is, how can the period of 27 days within which the Attorney-General filed witness statements and documents to be relied on in the “Ato Forson” trial appear to be six (6) months in the mind of Dr. Ayine? Is it sheer recklessness or a deliberate effort to make his predecessor and for that matter the Office he now heads, look bad? The docket on the case is in Dr. Ayine’s office and the facts could easily have been verified. I have said before, that, the tendency of the Attorney-General to publish plain untruths, half-truths and misinformation against the prosecuting team and courts adjudicating cases previously being prosecuted by his Office, is highly unprofessional. Dr. Ayine’s actions constitute an attack on the very Office he now heads.
State discontinues case against Ato Forson and Richard Jakpa at Supreme Court
