Godfred Yeboah Dame, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice nominee appeared for the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Friday, February 12, 2021, to be vetted for his new position in the second term of the Akufo-Addo’s government.
He was the Deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice in the president’s first term and by virtue of working hard, he has been promoted by the president in his second term.
Godfred Yeboah Dame’s vetting took 6 hours 23 minutes and some controversial decisions taken by the government in its first term came up and he offered some ‘legal’ answers to it.
Agyapa deal
Martin Amidu, the former Special Prosecutor, in his Corruption and Anti-Corruption Risk Assessment of the Agyapa Royalties Transactions argued among other things that the selection of advisors for the deal failed to meet the standards of transparency and accountability.
The document also indicated that several actors that approved the agreement flouted the laid down processes with impunity.
“All the parties to the Mandate Agreement are deemed to have known the law but ignored it with impunity in signing and implementing the Mandate Agreement which is null and void ab initio as violating the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921) and the Public Procurement Authority Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) as amended,” Amidu stated in his report.
He further accused the President of interfering in his probe on the botched Agyapa Royalties agreement.
Godfred Yeboah Dame said to the Appointment Committee of Parliament when questions were asked about the deal and the Special Prosecutor’s Corruption and Anti-Corruption Risk Assessment report that Martin Amidu misinterpreted the president’s point about the need to give those named in his report a fair hearing as interference.
“There is nothing on record showing a grant of hearing before the determination of the matter [Corruption Risk Assessment by the Special Prosecutor],” he stated.
Dame further stated that he disagrees with the former Special Prosecutor when he stated that Charles Adu Boahen, the former deputy Finance Minister, lacks the capacity to sign certain agreements.
He said the 1992 Constitution permitted deputy ministers to execute functions assigned to them by their substantive ministers.
He argues that Charles Adu Boahen at the time was tasked by his minister to execute those agreements, so it implies that he had the legal mandate to do so.
Godfred Yeboah Dame stated that the leaked document from the office of the Attorney General which described the deal as “onerous” and “a violation of Bank of Ghana Act” and further stated that “The provisions are skewed against the interest of the Fund and the Republic” cannot be interpreted as an opposition to the deal.
He stated that Gloria Akuffo backed the Agyapa Royalties deal and her concerns were appropriate which needed to be executed.
“In all respect with what she did in respect of the Agyapa Royalties transaction,” adding that “Secondly, I am indicating for the record that the former Attorney-General (Gloria Akuffo) was never opposed to the transaction and that is clear in all the documents available to me”.
The AG nominee told the appointments committee that parts of the Agyapa deal which did not receive parliamentary approval was not supported by law as interpreted by the Supreme Court decision in the Balkan Energy case.
He said the Court ruled that all agreements with international companies which should obtain parliamentary approval will also mean a simple purchase of airline tickets from a foreign entity will need such approval.
“The Supreme Court construed a major agreement to be the primary agreement itself. So all other transactions or agreements that flowed from the primary agreement to be considered as a subsidiary need not be submitted to this honourable house for approval,” Godfred Yeboah Dame explained.
PDS deal
Regarding the termination of the Power Distribution Service (PDS) deal with the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the AG nominee noted claims of corruption associated with the deal were false.
To Godfred Yeboah Dame, there was actually no basis for the allegations which were peddled by some members of the public to the effect that there was corruption in the whole transaction.
“There is actually no basis for the allegations of corruption in this transaction,’’ he said.
Responding to a question from Alexander Afenyo Markin, a panel member and MP for Effutu Constituency at the Appointments Committee of Parliament, the nominee insisted there was no corruption in the deal, adding that Ghana did not lose anything in the transaction.
He commended ECG for the due diligence which led to the detection of the invalid demand guarantee.
“It was actually the ECG itself […] the Board and MD of ECG that ascertained the authenticity of the demand guarantee that had been issued […] it was actually the effort of the ECG and it must be commended,’’ Dame observed.
Ameri deal
Godfred Yeboah Dame told the members of the Appointments Committee that, he is not aware President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was misled on the new Ameri agreement.
In response to a question posed by Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, North Tongu MP, on what he makes of a publication to the effect that the president was misled over the agreement as reported in a section of the Ghanaian media, the AG nominee said, “I am not aware of such a situation of the Attorney General misleading the president.
“I am rather aware of an opinion of the Attorney General indicating that there were no grounds for the termination of the agreement. Subsequently, I am also aware of a revision of the agreement by the Minister of Energy whereby savings in the sum of about 57 million dollars was made.”
The former deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice added, “Those are the facts that are available to me.”
The Daily Statesman in August 2018 reported that President Akufo-Addo was misled into granting executive approval for the Ameri deal under the guise of there being an urgent need to have a bill laid in Parliament before its rising.
Under the proposal, the Greece-based Mytilineos International Trading Company was to assume management responsibility for the AMERI emergency power-generation arrangement negotiated by the past National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, in effect, extending the original outsourcing agreement by ten years.
Other issues
Regarding the Ghana School of Law, Makola admissions of LLB students who would like to pursue Professional Law Programme in the school, the AG nominee revealed that a draft bill is expected to deal with all the excesses regarding the admissions.
“There has been a dramatic proposed change. So as to allow the professional law course to be run by faculties that run the law program,” Godfred Yeboah Dame said.
He explained that government white paper rejected many recommendations proposed by Justice Emile Francis Short Commission of Inquiry regarding the probe into the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence because some instances were contradictory.
He said the Government of Ghana explained why those recommendations were rejected, adding that, he is committed to ensuring that compensations were paid to persons who were victims of the violence.
On Santrokofi, Akpafu, Likpe and Lolobi (SALL), Godfred Yeboah Dame assured the Appointments Committee that he will work on it but insisted the residents should have been allowed to vote in the Buem Constituency.
Godfred Yeboah Dame once approved by Parliament will become Ghana’s youngest ever Attorney General and Minister of Justice at 40.
Godfred Yeboah Dame, Attorney General-designate