Per the Bar practice, two lawyers cannot address the court at the same time, but the Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame and Dr Aziz Bamba, Counsel for Dr Cassiel Ato Forson went against the norm.
Minister Dame and Dr Bamba both rose to their feet to address the Economic and Financial High Court, presided over by Justice Afia Serwaa Asare-Botwe at the same time.
In the heat of the moment, Her Ladyship Asare-Botwe suspected that the two lawyers were being influenced by the members of the gallery, mostly packed by minority Members of Parliament (MPs) who had come to court to throw their support behind their leader, Dr Ato Forson.
Her Ladyship Asare-Botwe, had to remind the Bar members of their present location and that the court was not Parliament House, for them to be heckling each other.
This remark caused the MPs to cheer loudly and for a moment almost turned the quite ambiance of the courtroom into a football stadium.
Her Ladyship Asare-Botwe, who is also a Court of Appeal judge, expected the lawyers to address the court one after the other, but the two went over board to be heard at the same time.
The conduct of the lawyers was because the case was being adjourned for the third time, following Richard Jakpa, third accused (A3), in the trial of the €2.37 million ambulance case, been reported ill and Alex Mould, first defence witness of Dr Ato Forson (A1), saying that he will not be available for three weeks to testify in the matter.
In respect of this, the A-G indicated to the court that adjournments had often been at the instance of A1, but Dr Aziz decided to rebut, despite the court correcting Mr. Dame that there had been two instances that the case was adjourned on the failure of the Prosecution Witness to appear before it.
To avoid a similar scene of the lawyers heckling each other, the court jokingly urged the MPs not to visit the court again, but shouts of ‘No, No’ was heard from some members in the gallery.
The court adjourned sittings to July 13, 2023 for hearing of a motion filed by A1.
Dr Forson, Seth Anemana (A2), a former Chief of Director of Ministry of Health and Richard Jakpa, a businessman and local representative of Big Sea, suppliers of the 200 alleged faulty ambulances are on trial.
The case and others had been referred to as political witchhunt by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Sammy Gyamfi, NDC Communication Director, told journalists after court sitting that Mr Dame is only an A-G and does not deserve the title of Minister for justice.
“He doesn’t understand the responsibilities of that title. He is not interested in doing justice. He is not interested in fair trial and he is only interested in abusing his prosecutorial powers in going after political opponents,” he stated
Mr. Gyamfi added that, “very soon we will be holding his feet to the fire of accountability. His conduct as an Attorney-General, particularly in relation to his advice of some matters of judgment debts, have come to our attention and in the coming days we will be addressing you, the media, to sensitise the good people of Ghana on these issues.”
