Private legal practitioner, Akoto Ampaw, has criticized heavily some foot soldiers of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) for demanding the dismissal of Attorney General for failing to put corrupt officials who served in the erstwhile NDC government behind bars.
The foot soldiers under the name ‘Coalition of NPP Footsoldiers Against Corruption’ had argued that the failure of Ms. Gloria Akuffo to prosecute appointees under former president Mahama smacks of incompetence on her part, reason she should be shown the exit.
In reaction, the lawyer who was a key cog in the President Akufo-Addo's team of lawyers that challenged the credibility of the 2012 election results jumped to the defence of the Attorney General and her team.
In a write up to respond to the foot soldiers, Mr. Ampaw said; "Let me state from the onset that I can understand the frustration of the foot soldiers.
Nevertheless, they completely miss the point and expose their ignorance of what is involved in criminal prosecution and the Attorney-General’s role and function in that process. The first thing to note is that it is one thing to make allegations of corruption against one’s political opponents on the campaign trail and quite another to initiate criminal prosecution in a court of law. This is so because criminal prosecution is not based on allegations made on campaign platforms, but based on cogent and convincing evidence that is established through meticulous investigation and, above all, which can meet the acid test of legal evidence".
Read full write up below
Fight against corruption: In defence of the Attorney-General
I have seen a recent press release said to be from a group of people calling themselves “Coalition of NPP Footsoldiers Against Corruption”. The release, which is doing the rounds on social media, is titled ‘Gloria Akuffo Must Start Prosecuting or Leave Post’.
Indeed, when I saw the name of the group that is said to have issued the statement, “Coalition of NPP Footsoldiers Against Corruption”, my first reaction was to burst out into a loud and long laughter interspersed with uncontrollable chuckling. Ghana politics and foot soldiers I said in amusement!!
I then proceeded to read the press release, and went through a series of mood swings – from laughter, and amusement, through disbelief and, by the time I had finished reading the press release, visceral anger.
Ominous Appeal
The allegation was that there was a list of corruption cases that the NPP, while in opposition and on the campaign trail in 2016 had shouted it would investigate and ensure those implicated, are made to face the full rigours of the law, should it be voted into office.
The complaint of the ‘NPP Footsoldiers Against Corruption’ was that after almost two years of the NPP in power, there was very little to show for the numerous corruption cases NPP alleged on the campaign trail in 2016. The group, therefore, concludes that either the Attorney-General and his deputies are not interested in prosecuting the list of cases or they are incompetent.
The foot soldiers accordingly make the ominous appeal to the President “to order (sic!) the Attorney-General to live up to expectation or sack her and her lieutenants”!
Ignorance of what it takes to mount criminal prosecution
Let me state from the onset that I can understand the frustration of the foot soldiers. Nevertheless, they completely miss the point and expose their ignorance of what is involved in criminal prosecution and the Attorney-General’s role and function in that process. The first thing to note is that it is one thing to make allegations of corruption against one’s political opponents on the campaign trail and quite another to initiate criminal prosecution in a court of law. This is so because criminal prosecution is not based on allegations made on campaign platforms, but based on cogent and convincing evidence that is established through meticulous investigation and, above all, which can meet the acid test of legal evidence.
It is not the function of the AG to conduct criminal investigations
The second issue that our frustrated foot soldiers need to understand is that it is not the function of the Attorney-General to conduct criminal investigations. That rather falls within the purview and function of the state investigative bodies, foremost among which are the Ghana Police Service, the Bureau of National Investigations, Economic and Organised Crime Office, and the Financial Intelligence Centre, as well as the new Office of the Special Prosecutor, that is, after government has fully resourced that office with competent investigators, auditors, lawyers, experts in international financial transactions, and accountants all of whose integrity can, within limits be, vouched for.
Prima facie case
My dear foot soldiers, it is only after such bodies have effectively and successfully carried out their job of investigating the allegations of corruption, which you have listed in your press release, that a docket is prepared for the attention of the Attorney-General to review. Then when upon review, she is satisfied that there is a prima facie case, based on the evidence uncovered by the investigations, she initiates criminal prosecution.
Without such docket or report, not even the most competent and committed Attorney-General in the world can be effective and procure conviction of persons charged with looting the state. The first question then that the foot soldiers and all those who honestly and wholeheartedly support the fight against corruption in Ghana ought to ask is: have the bodies charged under the law to carry out investigations done their job and submitted compelling dockets for the A-G to review the evidence in the light of the law so as to conclude that there is sufficient legal evidence, not political platform or beer bar evidence, to mount a successful or, at the very least credible, criminal prosecutions? The answer to that question is, in my respectful view, a resounding NO! They have not. And without such legal ammunition, there is little the Attorney-General can do.
Again, the foot soldiers expose either their ignorance or political bad faith when they claim there is very little to show for the corruption cases about which they sang on the 2016 campaign trail. Currently, the Attorney-General is prosecuting simultaneously three major corruption cases – the National Communication Authority case, the Cocobod case and the SSNIT case.
A dangerous Machiavellian conspiracy against legal ethics?
The Footsoldiers against Corruption can be forgiven their naked display of ignorance of the law and what it takes to mount a successful criminal prosecution. But others who are well informed of the intricacies and complexities of especially white collar crime should know better. For I have reason to believe that it is these others, who are hiding in the shadows and using the unsuspecting foot soldiers as pawns in what is no more than a dangerous Machiavellian conspiracy to oust the Attorney-General from office.
It is these who have provoked my anger and indignation and have forced me to speak out my mind on this matter of principle. They should know better! They should know that the role of the Attorney-General, in our jurisprudence and, especially under the Constitution of the Republic, cannot be likened to that of the inquisition. And it is not by accident the Attorney-General is the only minister of state specifically named in our Constitution.
As the competent and worthy Attorney-General she is, Miss Gloria Afua Akuffo ought not to see herself as a political hatchet woman that uses the awesome prosecutorial powers of the state to hunt down political opponents. I am sorry, but this is not the role the Constitution and the law have carved out for the office of the Attorney-General. Rather she must be convinced in accordance with the ethics of the legal profession that there is sufficient evidence to procure a conviction of persons she charges with the commission of criminal offence or that there is what is referred to as a prima facie case that the accused persons must answer before a court of law.
The burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt
And mind you, the A-G, like any other prosecutor, must prove her case against the accused persons beyond a reasonable doubt. Therefore, where an accused person succeeds in raising a reasonable doubt in the mind of the judge of fact and law as to whether or not he committed the offence, the judge or court is bound by law to acquit and discharge the accused.
That is why, in the absence of a docket that that shows that, on the evidence available, there is a prima facie case to be answered by the accused, it is foolhardy and imprudent (unwise) for any Attorney-General to rush to court to prosecute the list of cases the foot soldiers and their ventriloquist are complaining the Attorney-General has failed to prosecute.
No Attorney-General worth her or his salt will do that. And I know, that the current Attorney-General, a competent and ethically disciplined professional that she is, will not rush to court with cases that have not chance of procuring a conviction simply in response to party political pressure and to satisfy the baying of misguided elements like ‘the Footsoldiers Against Corruption”.That is not the role of the Attorney-General in our Republic and under the Constitution, 2018.
The President knows this very well and that is why I do not expect him to bow to such base pressures.
Long Live the rule of law!
Long live Ghana!!.
Akoto Ampaw
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COALLITION OF THE VICTIMS OF NPP ATROCITIES WILL VOTE OUT NPP BY ALL MEANS BCOS WE ARE GOING TO GANG UP AND CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE NPP VERY VERY MASSIVELY BCOS OF THEIR GREED AND INSENSITIVITY TO THE POOR MASSES AND MIDDLE CLASS PEOPLE NPP HAS DISPLAYED THE STUPIDESTTTT BEHAVIOUR YET IN GOVNCE....THEY ARE BUSY DESTROYING MIDDLE AND LOWER CLASS PEOPLE WHO VOTED MASSIVELY FOR THEM ...CONGRATS TO NPP PAAAA BCOS BOG AND SEC WILL VOTE MASSIVELY FOR THEM IN 2020 NDC WILL DEFINITELY BOUNCE BACK IN 2020.... WAIT AND SEE HOW UR NPP WILL LOSE 2020 ....THEY ARE NOW EVEN DESTROYING GN BANK AND GOLD COAST SECURITIES...STUIPIDDD FOOOOLLLLS NPP U ARE INDEEED BUFOOOOONNNNSSS PAAAAAAA....COMMON SENSE TELLS U THAT WE ARE GOING TO GANG UP AND CAMPAIGN FOR NDC TO COME BACK BCOS NPP IS CALLOUSSS AND WICKEDDDDDD SO NDC just introduce a new face and win the 2020 hands down and very very massively ....bcos we have ganged up to support ndc return to power to save Ghana and her local industries and businesses which npp is destroying so very fast ......gn bank and gold coast securities are dying so painfully.....these are institutions which have given incomes to poor and middle classes for over 25 yrs ..but npp is suddenly killing them due to some bogus policies and laws...we hold the power we will kick them out in 2020 bcos they have destroyed our country's financial sector so painfully
Akoto Ampaw must keep quiet and stop those kind of uselessssss arguments. When the NPP was in opposition didn't they tell us about the corrupt practices of the NDC government? Even when NPP took over power we heard lots of misappropriation by the former government. From Vehicles Sales at cheaper prices to non-exiting cocoa roads which were paid for by the NDC government. Kuffour started prosecution of NDC officials soon after taking power. The prosecution arm of the Akuffo Addo administration is too weak and amenable to compromise. They may also be in bed with NDC operatives to lend credence to the saying that 'you scratch my back and i scratch your back'. How can you allow MPs who are law makers and illegally enjoyed double salaries still have the nerve to still speak against the government. Akoto Ampaw come again. If you are part of the legal team of government then its very shamefulllll on the part of you guys. You aren't the geniuses we expected. Bow your heads in shame and its a dent on your competences.
Ghanaians are not patient. Akoto Ampaw is right. Because Ghanaians don't read, they are i g n o r a n t about anything and give absurd comments. It is only 21 months so doubting thomases and the foot soldiers should be patient. People will start wailing and scratching their teeth constituional governance is different from military government. Constitunal Law is different from martial law. No thieve will ever escape what is going to befall them. Time will soon tell.
Oyiwa. Now its visibly clear that nana addo and his lying barwumia deceived Ghanaians into thinking that mahama appointees were corrupt. Today, they are looking for evidence to prosecute. In all fairness, its clear the npp is more dishonest and liars than the ndc. Just recently the president and his vice who said borrowing is lazy man approach are suddenly saying even the USA borrows. The same person said Ghana we are sitting on money, so we should try him, what is he doing now. Kudos to akoto ampaw for speaking the truth.
Personally, I lose or gain nothing, if NPP remain or exit Power. Same to NDC, I will gain or lose nothing if NDC come to Power or remain in Opposition. All I want is true Leaders who will manage Ghana to be better place for all of us. I am only Sick and tired of both NPP & NDC, I Scratch your Back, you Scratch my Back Business. My priority and concern is my Country Ghana, but not Party A or Party B. The 2 Parties have been taking Ghanaian's for granted for far too long. They always find excuse to let their Friends off the Hook of the Law. If we do not address this, Ghana will soon be sold to the Chinese for peanut.
KWasiato do you think you will be in power for long. gyae gymiee no wae. Let NPP lose today and see if KENBOND will mot go to jail.
Mr. Lawyer Ampaw Akoto, I think I agree with you. So we all need to be Patient and wait. But how about the Former President John Dramani Mahama appointees who took Double Salary ?. What hard-Core evidence do you need about that to prosecute them ?. Mr. Martin A. Amidu, used to be a beneficiary to that Double Salary, but he stopped his, as soon as it started. While the others continue till their term of Office expired. No one need anyone in Jail, all we need is, Probity, Accountability and Equality. Let me tell you, if you dont Prosecute them, they will use their Loud Mouth to get NPP out off Power. So continue to be gentle and Lecture us.
Kweku Baaku is a FUOOOUUL, 1DYOOT, UNLEARNED,
So Mr. Akoto Ampaw knows all these and never told Akuffo Addo to lying an making allegations against the NDC in 2016. Oyiwa!!! NPP footsoldiers please come and comment.