The Director of Legal Affairs of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Lawyer Abraham Amaliba says the professional conduct of Attorney General and Minister of Justice leaves much to be desired.
He claims Godfred Yeboah Dame is rather acting more in the interest of his party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) than working for the state.
“What he is doing as an Attorney General if more of an NPP work than a duty to the state,” he said.
His comment comes after Godfred Yeboah Dame’s assertion that lawyers who attack the courts and judges on social media when judgments are not in their favour, especially with high-profile political cases should be punished.
He described the act of such lawyers are ‘unfortunate’ – adding, that their vicious comments are wrong.
“My Lord Chief Justice, one would have thought that lawyers would have taken advantage of the digital revolution, which I have spoken about this morning, to consolidate the importance of this legal profession and its role in the affairs of the state.
“On the contrary, recent developments disclose systematic attempts by certain lawyers, often belonging to a side of the political divide to deploy social media to denigrate the administration of justice through poisoning and caustic attacks on judgements of the courts, all be it unjustified. This is often worsened in commentary on so-called political cases where some lawyers perceive the outcome to have far-reaching consequences for the objectives of political parties they sympathize with,” Godfred Dame said whiles addressing the bench, bar and faculty conference in Accra on Thursday, April 21.
He added, “the most deplorable thing about such endeavour is that many times their vicious comments are wrong yet the propagators of these wrong and dangerous ideas do not relent in their efforts to push them down the throat of an unsuspecting public. Such disreputable practice on the part of some lawyers further becomes an inducement to persons who are not members of the legal profession to launch even more savage and illogical attacks on the judiciary.
“This conduct is despicable as it has the ultimate tendency to destroy the integrity of institutions of justice delivery in Ghana. Such conducts should result in sanctions inflicted on the lawyers in question,” the A-G added.
But speaking to this, Lawyer Abraham Amaliba said the act of commenting on court rulings has been there from time immemorial.
“Even their lawyers do comment on such cases,” he said on NEAT FM’s morning show, Ghana Montie.
He noted that the move is an attempt to gag NDC lawyers from expressing their sentiments on court-related issues.
To him, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice is running the state office with self-pride, adding that his continuous apparent support for everything the Judiciary does threaten justice delivery in Ghana.
“He is arrogant, vindictive and quick-tempered,” he told host, Akwasi Aboagye.
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