The National Democratic Congress Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has rubbished the threat by the Minister for Justice and Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, to file a defamation lawsuit against him.
The Attorney General, while denying allegations of conflict of interest made against him by the North Tongu MP, has demanded a retraction and an apology from Mr Ablakwa.
According to Mr Dame, a failure on the part of the MP to heed to the demand will see him seek legal redress.
But responding to the demand on Friday, June 24, 2022 edition of Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana, Mr Ablakwa scoffed at the threat of legal suit.
Mr Ablakwa who has become a serial critic of the government’s construction of a National Cathedral insisted that some members of the current government will go to jail for issues related to the construction.
He further implored persons who have expressed concerns for him after the minister’s threat to back down on any idea of apologizing on his behalf.
“I dare him to sue me. By the time we’ll be done with this National cathedral thing, some people will be in jail. No one should apologize for me,” he vented.
In a Facebook post made on Tuesday, June 21, 2022, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, who has raised several issues with the construction of a National Cathedral by the government, wrote, “It is quite revealing to observe that when the National Cathedral was incorporated on July 18, 2019; the then Deputy Attorney General, Godfred Dame was registered as Secretary.
“During the same period, he served on the board of the Public Procurement Authority which approved David Adjaye’s irregular sole sourcing contract. A clear conflict of interest situation, particularly from additional evidence available to us,” he added.
But in a rejoinder to the MP’s statement, Godred Dame described the allegations as false and dishonest.
Refuting the allegations of conflict of interest, Godfred Dame said, among other things, that there was no company called the National Cathedral of Ghana in existence at the time the PPA board he served on approved the contract.
The minister thus demanded a retraction and apology from the Member of Parliament, failure of which he threatened to sue.
Source: GhanaWeb