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Godfred Yeboah Dame, once approved by Parliament, will become Ghana’s youngest Attorney General and Minister of Justice at 41.
“Kwame Nkrumah’s attorney general Kwaw Swanzy was also 41 years old, but I beat him with barely two months,” the GA representative told the committee.
“I may be young. I have only to act according to the imperatives of professionalism, ”was Mr. Dame’s response to a question from Member of Parliament for Ablekuma West, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, as to whether she heads a department that will require supervising the work of many of his elders at the Bar. will be a challenge.
He reminded the lawmaker, who is also a lawyer, that his post as Deputy Attorney General from 2017 to 2020 put him in a similar situation, but was able to do the job that was asked of him.
The period of his service saw the office come under discussion because of controversial issues. These questions were primarily the focus of his audits, with lawmakers demanding answers in 6 hours and 23 minutes.
Questions were put to him.
Agyapa offer
Regarding Agyapa Royalties’ botched deal to monetize Ghana’s gold royalties, former special prosecutor Martin Amidu in a letter accused President Akufo-Addo of being interested in his investigation into the case.
Mr Dame told the commission that the former special prosecutor misinterpreted the president’s point about the need to give those named in his corruption risk assessment report a fair hearing as interference.
“There is nothing in the file showing the granting of a hearing before the case is settled [Corruption Risk Assessment by the Special Prosecutor],” he stated.
The special prosecutor had questioned some of the agreements signed by then-Deputy Finance Minister Charles Adu Boahen, saying he lacked capacity.
However, Mr. Dame disagrees. He insists that Deputy Ministers under Ghana’s constitution are authorized by law to perform the duties assigned to them by substantive ministers.
He said that if Mr. Adu Boahen was duly instructed by the minister to execute these agreements, it would mean that he had the legal mandate to do so.
In addition, he noted that Article 5 of the Financial Administration Act empowers the Minister of Finance or any other person not lower than the post of director, to sign financial contracts adding that the Deputy Minister is definitely above the post of director and therefore had the ability to sign the agreement.
Former Attorney General Gloria Akuffo said she raised red flags about parts of the deal and called for changes, including the need for clear deadlines.
The delegate general told the committee that his former boss’s analysis could not be interpreted as opposing the deal. He insists she supported the deal and raised appropriate concerns that needed to be acted upon. When asked if he had found anything in his analysis of the documents that gave him cause for concern, he replied that the transaction was correct.
“With all due respect, I see no vicious factors regarding the transaction.”
Regarding the reasons why parts of the deal did not get parliamentary approval, the deputy general said this was not supported by the law as interpreted by the Supreme Court in the case. Balkan Energy. Reading parts of the judgment to support his point, he insisted that the Supreme Court noted that requiring all agreements with international companies to obtain parliamentary approval would mean that a mere purchase of airline tickets from a foreign entity will require such approval.
“The Supreme Court interpreted a major agreement to be the main agreement itself. Therefore, all the other transactions or agreements which resulted from the main agreement to be considered as a subsidiary, do not need to be submitted to this Honorable Chamber for approval, ”he explained.
Mr. Dame was a member of the board of directors of PPA under which CEO A. B Adjei was arrested for selling contracts. Questions have been raised about the role of the council in preventing this. He told the committee that the issue proven by CHRAJ did not name any board member for wrongdoing.
At the end of the private sector involvement in the management of ECG following the discovery that a demand guarantee had not been provided by PDS, the candidate stated that it was in the interest of the nation that the agreement be terminated because it means state assets. were dangerous.
The GA’s office came under intense public criticism when a government white paper rejected many key findings proposed by the commission that investigated Ayawaso West Wuogon’s election violence.
Mr Dame said the commission’s recommendations were in some cases contradictory.
According to him, the Constitution gives the President the prerogative to reject or accept, in whole or in part, the conclusions of a commission of inquiry.
However, he pledged to ensure that compensation is paid to those victims of violence.
Admission to the Ghana School of Law remains a challenge, Mr Dame further acknowledged, but said a bill is expected to radically change the rhetoric.
“A radical change has been proposed. In order to allow the professional law course to be led by the faculties which manage the law program, ”he revealed.
He was asked about the fact that some residents of Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe and Lolobi (SALL) are not represented in parliament. He assured the committee that he would work on it, but insisted that residents should have been allowed to vote in Buem constituency.
Mr Dame at one point clashed with minority leader Haruna Iddrisu over a law he said had been amended by Parliament.
Mr. Iddrisu suggested to Mr. Dame that a law he had cited did not contain sections 1 and 2.
“The law has been changed. There is now a section 38 (1) and (2). It is the consolidated law 663 ”, underlined Mr. Dame.
The minority leader subsequently conceded to the designated AG on the matter.
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