Private Legal practitioner and law lecturer Amoakwa Boadu has said that if Attorney-General (A-G) Godfred Dame can continue with the trial of the Minority Leader Dr Cassiel Ato Forson despite the advice from the trial judge, then he should be allowed to go on with the case.
He says that the A-G has a constitutional mandate to prosecute therefore he should not be gagged.
“Advice to the AG remains advice, if the A-G feels he can continue so be it, even the judge could not compel him.
“The A-G has a constitutional mandate to prosecute so you cannot gag him with applications of this nature. If he feels he can do the job without negatively affecting the outcome, so be it,” the Member of the communications team of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) said on the Key Points on TV3 on Saturday, June 8.
The Attorney-General Godfred Dame said that he was still prosecuting the case involving Dr Ato Forson despite the advice from the judge to recuse himself in the interest of justice and the public.
He told journalists after court proceedings on Thursday, June 6 that the judge only gave advice.
“It was only advice, I am still prosecuting the case,” he said.
The trial judge Justice Efia Serwah Asare-Botwey had advised Dame to recuse him from the ongoing trial.
“Having listened to the conversation between A3 and A-G, the allegation that A-G sought assistance to implicate [Ato Forson] was not borne out of the mouth of the A-G but [Richard Jakpa],” TV3’s Laud Adu-Asare who was in court on Thursday June 6 reported the judge as saying.
The court has also dismissed the application for mistrial filed by Ato Forson, Adu-Asare further reported.
Lawyers for the Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson filed a supplementary affidavit in support of the motion on notice for an order of mistrial, injunction and or stay of proceedings in the ongoing ambulance case.
This followed the allegations made against Attorney-General Godfred Dame by Richard Jakpa.
The trending recording of a telephone conversation between Mr. Jakpa and the Attorney-General Godfred Dame, had been annexed to the affidavit.
Also, certain quotations contained in some media reports, particularly by Accra-based Asaase Radio that border on alleged professional misconduct on the part of the A-G, had been cited and annexed to the process.
Dr Ato Forson was requesting the honorable court to declare a mistrial in the interest of justice, which must not only be done but be manifestly seen to be done.
The Minority Leader averred that the Attorney-General had embarked on reprehensible and unlawful conduct, conduct unbecoming of an Attorney- General, let alone the Minister for justice, for the sole purpose of securing his conviction. And that, if the Court were to ignore these rather grave matters to proceed with the trial regardless, that would amount to a real travesty of justice, as the Court would have disregarded credible and cogent claims of misconduct by the Attorney General.
He argued that if a mistrial was not ordered and such blatant disregard for the rule of law and the ethics of prosecution by no mean a person than the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice was glossed over and allowed to pass without any consequences, public confidence in the administration of justice would be adversely affected.
