A PRIVIATE legal practitioner and a beneficiary of series of judgment debt against the state, Kweku Yamoah Paintsil, has branded the Attorney General�s Department as lacking courage and the responsibility to let the state know that they have no case when writs are filed against it.
According to him, the fear that they might be accused of having an interest in a particular case compels the state to enter an appearance and leave the court to determine it without them filing any defence.
Mr. Paintsil made this known to the Judgment Debt commission chaired by Justice Yaw Apau when he appeared in a matter in respect of a case one Victoria Addy and three others filed against the attorney general�s department.
Taking a swipe at the AG�s department, he told the commission that he has led four different cases against the attorney general and the court had judgment awarded in his favour, a development, he said could have been prevented had the AG�s department acted appropriately and had the matter settled at the early stages.
The chief state attorney, Dorothy Afriyie Ansah, who was seen shaking her head in disagreement with his learned colleague, had earlier told the commission that the last process about the matter was in 2007 and nothing has happened ever since.
Also appearing before the commission was the executive secretary of the lands commission, Wilfred Kwabena Anin Odame, who claimed he was only involved in the fourth tranche of compensation payment to some claimants in the Volta Basin Flooded Areas and therefore cannot say much.
He told the commission that he was not aware that individuals are coming up with series of petition concerning the areas submerged by the flood prior to the construction of the Akosombo Dam. Sitting continues today.
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