The Office of the Attorney-General (A-G) has urged the President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, to cease criticizing the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, and instead focus on presenting factual information.
This comes after Mr. Cudjoe, in a Facebook post, called on the Attorney-General to apologize to Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe, and Lolobi (SALL) citizens for what he termed a dereliction of duty in seeking justice for the 30,000 citizens.
He emphasized the need for the Attorney-General to be sorry for defending the state against disenfranchised SALL citizens and offering no dignified advice to the presidency on resolving the debacle.
The residents of these areas, which form the Guan district in the Oti Region, were unable to vote for a parliamentary representative in the 2020 general elections because no designated constituency was established for them.
The matter was brought before the courts, resulting in an interim injunction from the Ho High Court against the Electoral Commission’s gazetting of the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) John Peter Amewu as the Member of Parliament-elect for Hohoe.
However, the then Deputy Attorney-General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, who is currently the country’s Attorney-General, successfully contested this injunction at the Supreme Court.
Responding to Mr. Cudjoe’s call for an apology, the Attorney-General’s spokesperson, Isaac Wilberforce Mensah, clarified that the A-G’s role does not involve advising the Electoral Commission on constituency creation.
Mr. Mensah further accused the IMANI CEO of trying to denigrate the AG, as records show that Mr. Dame was not the Attorney-General in all the instances and cases Franklin Cudjoe cited in his accusation.
“Let it be clear that the Honourable Attorney-General, Godfred Dame, has not produced any such advice on any of the persons mentioned. I challenge the author to produce any such advice authored by the Honourable Godfred Yeboah Dame.
“The duties of the Attorney-General under the constitution are not about the creation of constituencies, for which reason you would attack the Attorney-General. These questions should be directed to the proper quarters. The constitution, under the representation of the People’s Chapter, has given that duty specifically to a particular body in this country, and it is like we are trying to attack the Attorney General for anything that happens in the country,” Wilberforce Mensah said.