The Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has described as unhealthy a statement by the Dormaahene, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II, on the ongoing criminal trial of the Assin North Member of Parliament-elect, James GyakyeQuayson.
According to him, statements of that sort have the tendency to sabotage the administration of justice, a situation that portends doom for the nation. The AG was responding to journalists on the matter on Monday, July 3, 2023 in which he advised that such comments would jeopardize the democratic dispensation.
However, the obviously unhappy Minister for Justice indicated that he would soon make a “proper statement” on the matter.
“I will come out with a proper statement on the matter, and it will be in respect of all comments generally that have the tendency to subvert the administration of justice. I think that it is very unhealthy for our democratic dispensation and we must not countenance the same,” he retorted.
The Dormaahene, who is a judge, has made a direct appeal to the President and the AG to discontinue the GyakyeQuayson criminal trial after he won the by-election.
CONSTITUTIONAL MATERS
The Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has also waded into the discourse, expressing his disagreement with the position of the prominent paramount chief, who made the comments outside the courtroom.
Speaking to a Kumasi-based radio station, Pure FM, the Suame MP, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu held that the matter had to do with the constitution and as such it must take its course. The argument of the leader of government business in parliament is that the revered chief may not say the same for a murder trial, adding that a sitting judge ought not to make such utterances.
He could not fathom whether the paramount chief, who is also a judge, meant that offenders of the law should not face the consequences. No, I disagree with him…,” he said.
“We are talking about constitutional matters here. Is it the case of the chief that he would call for the same to be discontinued if it was a murder charge or any other?
“Is the respected chief saying that if someone flouts the law, we should let it go? I disagree. I think he should come out to explain further.
“He is a judge; is it his position that should the case be before him, he would have rejected or made similar utterances?” he quizzed.
“It is right for us all to allow the law to run its course. We can ask the question of whether the State has a case or not, but beyond that, we cannot abuse the process.
“As an Appeals Court Judge, he is a potential candidate for the Supreme Court. Comments like this might haunt him and affect his chances when posed to him at vetting. I disagree with him,” he concluded.
SHOCK, SURPRISE
Meanwhile, a member of the disciplinary committee of the General Legal Council, Mr. Sam Okudzeto, said he was “shocked and surprised” at the statement because the chief “is a sitting High Court Judge.
“It is repugnant. It is just bad manners in every way – that is my opinion. It is just not decent for a judge to make such utterances,” he articulated.
He told the host that if he was a member of the disciplinary committee of the Judicial Council, he would have asked the high court judge to “resign or ask him to be sacked as a judge.”
He would rather the chief spoke to the AG in private, adding that a code of conduct “forbids” judges from interfering in matters in court “that is definitely not allowed.”
According to the member of Council of State, who granted Accra based JoyFM an interview on the matter on Monday, the Dormaahene making such statements in his capacity as a chief “makes it worse,” arguing that the platform was also wrong.
He stated that if the Judicial Council does not take up the matter, any citizen could petition the council.
ABANDONMENT
The Dormaahene, who is the President of the Bono Regional House of Chiefs and a sitting High Court Judge, speaking at the Professor John Evans Atta Mills Commemorative Lecture in Sunyani on Saturday, July 1, said the AG should file a nolle prosequi on the Assin North MP-elect’s trial.
The chief argued that after the court ordered Quayson’s name and records to be expunged from the books of parliament, he contested again and won massively, thus the advice to allow the MP to work.
“As a matter of urgency, I am appealing to the President of the Republic [Akufo-Addo], if he has any role to play, that trial should be aborted, and the Attorney-General should as a matter of urgency file a nolle Prosequi to end that particular decision and abort the criminal case against Mr. Quayson,” the Dormaahene added.
Meanwhile, he stated that if he were on the Supreme Court panel, he would have had a divergent view.
The High Court Judge revealed that he was not happy with the decision by the Supreme Court, adding that “If I were on the Supreme Court, I would have gone left and not right.”
By Maxwell Ofori & Francis Owusu-Ansah
