Case withdrawals: If you can’t prosecute members of your own party, who else will you prosecute? – Lawyer asks Mahama

Member of Parliament for Manhyia South and a private legal practitioner, Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, has questioned President John Dramani Mahama on the decision to withdraw cases against members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and other officials.

Baffuor Awuah indicated that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) campaigned on fighting corruption and even set up Operation Recover All Loots (ORAL). But at the same time, the NDC government is withdrawing all the cases against its members.

That end, he asked, “If you can’t prosecute members of your own party, who else will you prosecute?”

The Mahama administration has officially dropped all criminal charges against the former National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, and Anthony Kwaku Boahen.

Also, Former Chief Executive of Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni, businessman Seidu Agongo, and Agricult Ghana Limited have been acquitted and discharged of all criminal charges in the COCOBOD case by the High Court.

This was after the State Prosecutors, upon the instructions of the Attorney General, filed a notice of withdrawal on Tuesday, January 28, 2025, to drop all charges against them.

The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, has also withdrawn an appeal initiated by his predecessor, Godfred Yeboah Dame, against a Court of Appeal ruling that acquitted and discharged Ato Forson and Richard Jakpa of charges related to causing financial loss to the state.

In a Notice of Abandonment of Appeal dated January 23, 2025, Dr. Ayine stated that the state had decided not to pursue the matter any further.

“Please take notice that the Republic, having previously served notice of appeal against the judgment delivered by the Court of Appeal on July 30, 2024, hereby gives notice that it does not intend to prosecute the appeal further and abandons all proceedings related to this matter from the date of this notice,” he stated.

The Attorney-General also withdrew all charges against Johnson Asiama, the former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), concerning his alleged involvement in the collapse of UniBank and UT Bank.

Asiama, along with several others, had been facing a range of charges including fraudulent breach of trust, money laundering, conspiracy to commit crime, and violations of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) Act since 2020.

Expressing his view on this matter, Lawyer Baffour Awuah said “If you are the AG, you are also a Minister of Justice, making sure you look after the well-being of all Ghanaians. An injustice should worry you. Even if you want to discontinue a case because there’s no merit to it, you owe the greater Ghanaian public an explanation, particularly when you consider the facts of the case, the interest surrounding it, and the consequences of the alleged actions of the accused.”

He added “You withdraw the charges and the next day he is made the governor. What country are we building? At the very least, explain to Ghanaians that the charges were wrong. You don’t just withdraw and say nothing.

The post Case withdrawals: If you can’t prosecute members of your own party, who else will you prosecute? – Lawyer asks Mahama first appeared on 3News.

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