Kwaku Ansa-Asare, the former Director of the Ghana School of Law, has urged Ghanaians not to be unconcerned about the allegation of coercion of a witness in the ongoing trial of the Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, by Attorney General Godfred Dame.

According to him, the allegation is at the heart of the country's democracy and constitution and should not be overlooked by Ghanaians, citinewsroom.com reports.

Ansa-Asare, a founding member of the ruling New Patriotic Party, said that Ghanaians must rise and demand that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo dismiss Godfred Dame or he should step down himself.

"I said the President doesn't have the moral right nor the political courage to do that. So, Ghanaians must remove him. We're the people, if we say the president should remove him and he doesn't, we will impeach the President for not upholding the tenets of the Constitution.

"This is not a mere allegation, for once let us stand up and defend the Constitution. He's my son, I call him my son, I respect him, but that does not mean that if he finds himself in an infraction of the law, then we leave it at that, no," he is quoted as having said in an interview on Citi TV's Face to Face.

About the allegations against Ato-Forson:

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), true to its promise, provided evidence of the supposed misdeeds of the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Dame, in the ongoing trial of the Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson.

The NDC accused Godfred Dame of unethical and unprofessional conduct when the third accused person in the ambulance purchase trial, businessman Richard Jakpa, alleged in court that the AG had meetings with him on how to implicate the first accused, Ato Forson.

The third accused claimed that the Attorney General wanted his cooperation to jail Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson; a claim Dame has flatly denied.

At a press conference in Accra, on Tuesday, May 28, 2024, the NDC played a 16-minute audio recording of a phone call conversation between Godfred Dame and Richard Jakpa, on the day the third accused was supposed to testify in court.

In the recording, Dame is heard urging the third accused to testify in a manner that differs from an explanation given to him (Jakpa).

Before the AG's request, Jakpa explained that Ato Forson had done no wrong with the LCs he signed. He could be heard telling the Attorney General that the contract was for the purchase of 200 vehicles with 4 LCs.

"With the security from the government being the LC, the condition precedent... the contract for 200 vehicles in tranches of 50, 50, 50, 50. The contract is one contract for 200 ambulances which has been broken down within the contract."

"You establish an LC for every 50 tranche. So, you have four LCs for the 200 ambulances," Jakpa explained.

Godfred Dame then stated that the third accused should accept his explanation because it wouldn't cause him any harm.

"For that part, I disagree with you, because if you look at the terms of the contract, it is quite clear and it should not be difficult for you to accept because it doesn't put you in any problem. You are not the Minister of Health, and you are not the Minister of Finance, so it doesn't put you in any difficulty," the Attorney General is heard saying.

However, Jakpa insisted that he could not grant Dame's request because there were letters that confirmed the arrangement in the contract.

"No, the problem I have in accepting that for you is that there are letters that confirm [details of the transaction]. So I can't go against what the letters say."

Dame continued to ask Jakpa to accept his position because it would not cause him any problems, but the third accused insisted he was not going to say anything contrary to what he knew as the truth.

The Attorney General is also heard in the recording telling Jakpa to fabricate a medical excuse so that he could travel.

BAI/OGB

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