Renowned private legal practitioner and law lecturer, Dr. Justice Srem-Sai, has given an explanation as to why Attorney General Godfred Dame has decided not to heed the strong admonishment of the judge in the trial of Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, to recuse himself.
According to him, the Attorney General can never properly recuse himself from the case because any state attorney assigned to the case would report back to him.
He indicated that Dame knows that for him to properly recuse himself from Ato Forson’s case, he must resign as the Attorney General.
"The judge was very courageous in giving the advice she gave. That is very significant advice that the judge gave: 'Do not continue.'
"But then there is another question: if the AG decides to remove himself from the case, can we say that he has actually recused himself when he is still in office? Because any other person who takes over from him is holding his brief – will be doing the AG’s work," Srem-Sai said in an interview on Radio Gold on June 9, 2024.
He added, "So, I can understand why he is not taking the advice because doing that would also mean that he has to leave his office. There is only one Attorney General; any other person would be doing what the Attorney General has directed him to do."
The law lecturer indicated that the advice of the judge was also an indication for Dame to resign "because if he is accepting the advice, he can't accept it halfway. He has to go the full length."
Background:
Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, the High Court Judge presiding over the trial of Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, advised the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, to recuse himself from the case.
The judge advised Dame to recuse himself from the trial, in which Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson and businessman Richard Jakpa are accused of causing financial loss to the state, citing allegations of professional and prosecutorial misconduct.
According to myjoyonline.com, the advise of the court was made during the hearing of numerous applications filed by the first accused, Dr. Forson, and the third accused, Richard Jakpa, against the Attorney General on Thursday, June 6, 2024.
The accused persons in their respective applications sought several orders, including an inquiry into the Attorney-General's conduct based on Jakpa's claims that the Attorney-General had been contacting him at odd hours.
They also requested a mistrial to terminate the case, a stay of proceedings until the applications were determined, and a motion to strike out charges against Jakpa.
The court declined jurisdiction to order an inquiry and declare a mistrial based on prosecutorial misconduct and directed Dr. Ato Forson to seek redress from the General Legal Council if he wished to pursue the matter further.
Additionally, the court admitted a telephone recording between Jakpa and the Attorney-General as evidence, overruling the Attorney-General's objections regarding its admissibility.
The report indicated that the ruling is unprecedented, marking the first time a Ghanaian court has directed an Attorney General to recuse himself from a trial due to misconduct allegations.
Watch his comments in the video below (from 17:30).
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