Godfred Dame, speaking at the 2022/2023 Ghana Bar Association Annual General Conference at Ho on September 12, chided the former president for his “systematic and caustic attacks” on the court.
He described the comments by Mahama as deplorable, coming from someone who has been a former president.
“I am compelled to comment on same in this address because they border on the security of the state and constitute a deliberate pattern of conduct aimed at undermining the independence of the Judiciary, an arm of government whose autonomy is crucial to its proper functioning. Such conduct is clearly deplorable, coming from one who has occupied the highest office of President and aspires again to that office,” he said.
But in a Twitter post on September 12, Madam Bawah Mogtari stated that Godfred Dame was not old enough to participate in the referendum which led to the adoption of the 1992 Constitution suggesting that it was the reason the Attorney General was failing in his understanding of Mahama’s criticism of the bench.
“Ignore the rants of “baby” Godfred Dame, who was probably not old enough to vote in the 28th April 1992 referendum to accept the draft constitution, and yet has the impudence to insult John Mahama and describes all Lawyers affiliated with the NDC as “abettor”,” her tweet read.
“Let it be known that in the history of the Ghana Bar, no Attorney General has used the Bar conference as a platform to attack a Former President, fellow lawyers or a political party and it's leader,” the former Deputy Minister for Transport added.
What Mahama said about judiciary
Former President Mahama at a forum held for lawyers of the National Democratic Congress on August 28 lamented that the judiciary has a ‘broken image under the current leadership of the Chief Justice.
He said Ghanaians were fast losing trust in the judiciary owing to some of its unanimous decisions handed over by the Supreme Court – a situation he explains as dangerous to the country’s democracy.
He stated that it will only take a new Chief Justice to chart a path of regaining public trust in the judiciary.
“There is therefore the urgent need for the Ghanaian Judiciary to work to win the trust and confidence of the citizenry and erase the widely held perception of hostility and political bias in legal proceedings at the highest courts of the land.
“Unfortunately, we have no hope that the current leadership of our judiciary can lead such a process of change. We can only hope that a new Chief Justice will lead a process to repair the broken image that our judiciary has acquired over the last few years,” Mahama submitted.
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Joyce Bawah Mogtari is aide to Former President John Mahama