General News of Saturday, 15 June 2024

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Richard Jakpa, AG leaked tape pops up in parliament

Richard Jakpa and Godfred Dame play videoRichard Jakpa and Godfred Dame

An audio tape released by the NDC on Tuesday, May 28, allegedly capturing the Attorney General attempting to coerce Richard Jakpa into implicating Dr Ato Forson in the ongoing trial, has made its way into parliament.

This development follows a heated exchange in parliament, where the Minority Chief Whip, Kwame Governs Agbodza expressed outrage and cautioned MPs against bringing social media comments into parliamentary discussions.

The Minority Chief Whip accused the Attorney General of soliciting illegalities to incriminate innocent people, describing it as a significant issue that required urgent attention which was supposed to be discussed but has been ignored.

His remarks came after the Majority Leader, Alenxader Afenyo-Markin sought clarification from the Ranking Member for Education Peter Nortsu-Kotoe regarding the Free SHS bill, which the government plans to introduce to parliament.

After the submission, Deputy Speaker Joseph Osei Owusu warned MPs against making inappropriate comments.

"I'm observing a trend which I want to put on record. It's inappropriate. It's inappropriate for the Chief Whip of the Minority to bring comments from social media that are not part of the general discussions," he said.

He further cautioned against attacking the integrity of judicial officers based on unverified social media reports.

"If you're going to attack the integrity of a judicial officer or the conduct of a case in court, you must have evidence. We are very careful when talking about the judiciary and members of the judicial service. The rules permit me to respond if you talk about me, but we are restricted from commenting on the conduct of certain classes of people. What we do outside on social media should remain there. When we bring it here, we must be guided by our rules," he stated.

The NDC on May 28 played a 16-minute audio recording claiming to be a conversation between Godfred Yeboah Dame and Richard Jakpa.

The Attorney General has since come under heavy criticism as calls heighten for his resignation.

According to the National Chairman of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, the tape confirms that indeed Godfred Dame had attempted to make Richard Jakpa indict the Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, in the ambulance case, and the audio was proof.

Meanwhile the High Court on June 13 admitted the audio recording between the third accused Richard Jakpa and Attorney-General Godfred Dame in the ambulance trial.

Watch the video below





NAY/EK