- “So, if you are a former president and you see something going on in the country, you have no right to talk about it? Is that what he is saying?”
The former president John Mahama has said that the Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, cannot stop him from speaking out on issues of critical national importance.
Speaking on Monday (12 September 2022), Dame criticised the former president for recent comments he made about the judiciary.
He described Mahama’s remarks as “an unwarranted attack on the integrity of Ghana’s judiciary”.
However, Mahama says that he has a duty, as a former president, to speak out on matters of national importance and give them the attention they demand.
Speaking during an interview with TV3 on Monday, the former president said he is not concerned by attacks from people who are offended by his criticisms of the judiciary.
“The judiciary is the last arbiter,” the former president said. “We can disagree, and we can have quarrels in Parliament; eventually, when we are unable to agree, we all go to the justice system and we must have confidence that it will do fairly [sic] and will do so according to the law and in the public interest.
“That’s all I was saying. So how he [the Attorney General] can interpret that to mean that I was imprudent … So, if you are a former president and you see something going on in the country, you have no right to talk about it? Is that what he is saying?”
Mr Mahama added, “No, I won’t let him take that right away from me. If I see something going wrong, I will point it out. It is my duty to do so.”
Dismay and embarrassment
Speaking at the Ghana Bar Association’s annual conference in Ho on Monday, Dame declared that Ghanaians will not tolerate any attempt to tarnish the image of the judiciary.
“The judiciary has shown consistently that it is the last line of defence for our country. It was thus with great dismay and embarrassment that I heard a person who has occupied the highest office of the state, [the] former president John Mahama, recently launch an unwarranted attack on the integrity of Ghana’s judiciary,” Dame said. “And I observed that this was really the latest instalment of systematic and caustic attacks on our courts by the former president, albeit unjustified.
“At this moment, it is important for all to note that I express this sentiment not because I stand in opposition to former president Mahama as a politician.
“The court is not a mercy chamber to serve justice based on sympathy or affection,” the Attorney General continued. “I observed with even greater worry that the former president, a non-lawyer, made those comments at a meeting of the legal committee of his political party,” Dame said.
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