Justice Kpegah's case is "laughable" - Frank Davies

Justice Francis Yaonasu Kpegah, who has sued Nana Akufo-Addo, 2012 flagbearer of the NPP, for impersonation, has come under intense criticism from some lawyers who maintain that not only does his suit lack locus but is also childish and pedestrian.

For instance, the President of the Greater Accra Bar Association, Frank Davies told Joy FM’s Top Story on Tuesday that claims by the former Supreme Court judge are “laughable”.

Questioning the rationale behind his 20 points statement of claim, and wondering why someone would posit that Nana Akufo-Addo was practicing illegally as a lawyer in Ghana, Mr Davies remarked: “I think we should elevate our political discourse to another level; I think this is childish, with the greatest of all respect to Justice Kpegah.”

When his attention was drawn to the claim that a “discreet investigation” conducted by Justice Kpegah revealed that Nana Akufo-Addo was never called to the Ghana Bar, Frank Davies simply replied: “There could be a defect in sight”.

He also pointed out that, Nana Akufo-Addo who is a former president of the Greater Accra Bar, started practicing law at the Supreme Court before Justice Kpegah and attested that “he used to glorify his (Nana’s) legal prowess and referred to him as a distinguished lawyer”.

He suspected that the reliefs were just to tarnish the image of the NPP flagbearer, and called for decency and sanity, saying the action does not augur well for the legal profession.

In his view, the allegations raised by the former Supreme Court judge, “are not serious allegations, these are pedestrian allegations”.

Meanwhile, Kwame Akuffo, a legal practitioner at Akufo-Addo, Prempeh and Co. has discredited the allegations raised by Justice Kpegah.

Kwame Akuffo was emphatic that Nana Akufo-Addo completed law school in 1971 and was called to the Ghana Bar in 1975, and even appeared before the same Justice Kpegah on numerous occasions.

He stated that Nana Akufo-Addo is also known by many as William Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and therefore “there is no impersonation in this matter”.

According to him, the writ was done in “bad faith” and was certain it will “cripple” in court.

Saying the action was politically bias, lawyer Akuffo added that it was also “completely baseless with malice” just to counter Nana Akufo-Addo’s court action challenging the legitimacy of president Mahama.

“We don’t expect Justice Kpegah to find anything good in Akufo-Addo so we are not surprised if he says so. We expect him only to proceed on this bad faith conduct of his that he has exhibited throughout as a gentleman in the past and continues to do so.”

He said they do not again expect Justice Kpegah to see anything “worthy and meritorious in Nana Akufo-Addo. Indeed the skies will fall down if it so happen that Justice Kpegah finds anything useful in Nana Akufo-Addo”.