The Attorney General is the principal legal advisor to the President by extension the government.
He represents the state in all criminal, civil and constitutional legal matters.
He has the prosecutorial powers to prosecute all criminal matters on behalf of the state.
He can delegate them to the state attorneys, lawyers, and police.
The police normally do the prosecution on behalf of the Attorney General at the lowest courts, District and the Circuit.
At the Superior Courts like the High Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, it is the Attorney General and his state attorneys who carry out the prosecution.
It must be stated that prosecution only occurs in criminal matters, not in any matter like civil matters which are normally private.
Criminal matters such as corruption, bribery, murder, manslaughter, rape, defilement, destruction of state property, treason, incest, stealing etc.
The principle of nolle prosequei is the power given to the Attorney General to discontinue a criminal matter that is before a competent court of jurisdiction.
The rule does not allow the AG to explain to the court why the discontinuation of the matter.
He only announces to the court that the state is not interested in the case before the judge.
He appeals to the judge or the court to discontinue the case or strike it out.
Since the inauguration of the current Government led by John Dramani Mahama HE on the 7th of January 2025, the Attorney General has discontinued some high-profile criminal cases involving some kingpins of the current government. So far more than eleven individuals have benefitted from this gesture.
Legally, the AG has not breached any law but morally and politically,it is very shameful.
Shameful because the AG under the instructions of the President enjoyed favouring the National Democratic Congress party apparatchiks who have been charged by the former Attorney General for the state, Gofred Yeboah Dame for the commission of various criminal offences.
This is discriminatory and it encourages bad acts on the part of the politically exposed persons to intensify their wrongdoings and when their government takes the reins of power, they will be set free or they will be discharged and acquitted. At the end of the day, the country loses and the political parties of the suspects win. This is not right and it must be halted with alacrity.
A country called Ghana has some vibrant civil society organizations.
These organizations and their media cronies were active and loud during the regime of the immediate New Patriotic Party Government of Nana Akufo Addo.
Today, some of their vociferous communicators have taken positions in the current government and have abandoned their watchdog roles.
Some of us never trusted them because we knew their hatred against the previous government was to aid the NDC to win power for their rewards.
Some of them as stated are quite enjoying their new positions and are not interested in Nolle Prosequei’s spree that the AG and the President are happily executing to the anger of the citizens.
Consider the following persons who claimed to be neutrals who are today implementing the campaign message of NDC. H Kwesi Prempeh, CDDAssociate Professor of political science of the University of Ghana, Ransford Gyampo, Associate Professor of Political Marketing of the University of Ghana Business School, Kobby Mensah,
Nana Yaa Jantua, a dismissed General Secretary of the Convention Peoples Party, loud-mouthed whose trademark is to be insulting the former President, Nana Akufo Addo, Martin Kpobu who was embarrassed by the Supreme Court for allegedly stealing someone’s patent right and their other members of cabal.
The question I am asking is where are the neutrals?
Do we have them in our political space?
Nolle Prosequei has become a battered principle under this government.
Our Honourable Attorney General, kindly ponder deeply over these actions of discontinuation of criminal matters against your Party members.
Ghana loses.
Ahmed
The Servant
