Former Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Justice, Martin A. B.K. Amidu, is determined to help Ghana to retrieve the GH¢51.2 million paid unlawfully to Alfred Agbesi Woyome by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.
Mr. Amidu aka Citizen Vigilante, who is noted for his anti-corruption exploits, has filed a fresh application at the Supreme Court seeking leave to examine Mr. Woyome, with an indication by the government that it was discontinuing the case.
The current Attorney General has filed a notice to discontinue summoning Mr. Woyome to court to give oral evidence on why he had refused to refund the huge amount of money to the state, in spite of the court’s order.
The application to withdraw the process that would have seen Mr. Woyome, a leading member of the NDC, back in court to testify on his assets, was filed on October 26, but Mr. Amidu insists that it was President John Mahama who instructed the AG to stop the action because Mr. Woyome was going to mention names in court and that would have caused panic in the ruling NDC.
Mr. Amidu, who started pursuing Woyome for the money when he was in office as Attorney General, says the current AG, Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong’s action is incompetent and unlawful.
In his application for leave to examine Mr. Woyome orally in the public interest, the Citizen Vigilante said, “I commenced the action giving rise to the enforcement application pending in this Court for hearing on 10th November, 2016 and obtained a unanimous judgment against the 1st Defendant/Respondent/Attorney General and the 3rd Defendant/Judgment Debtor, on 29th July, 2014.”
He said the court had granted the order on the terms of the AG and Woyome as a result of “the unconstitutional conduct” of the AG in the “purported pursuance of the said inoperative Agreement dated 26th April 2006.
“I believe that by reason of Article 88 of the 1992 Constitution that imposes a duty on the Attorney General to act quasi judicially and impartially in the name of the Republic of Ghana as distinct from her political position as Minister for Justice, this court granted the 1st Respondent/Attorney General the authority to pursue the enforcement of the judgment debt ordered to be refunded to the Republic.”
According to Mr. Amidu, since the Court permitted the Attorney General to pursue the enforcement of the judgement debt owed Ghana, she has “exhibited a reluctance to enforce the judgment.
“The vacillating steps which the Attorney General has taken since permission was granted to her to enforce the judgment debt shows beyond every reasonable doubt that she is not willing to fairly and transparently enforce the judgment and order of this court against the Debtor.”
He said the various applications made to the court in the process of the purported enforcement of the judgment debt against Mr. Woyome “lends credence to the fact of the failure, refusal and/or reluctance of the Attorney General to act in accordance with the hallowed tradition of her office and in accordance with Article 88 of the Constitution to enforce the judgment debt.”
He also said the pleadings in the action leading up to the decision and orders of the court in the case demonstrated that Mr. Woyome “admits that he is a financier of the political party, sponsoring the incumbent Government that appointed the Attorney General,” adding, “I am also a foundation member of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), its former Deputy Attorney General and its previous Vice Presidential candidate in the 2000 Presidential Elections, but brought the action resulting in the judgement debt in defence of the Constitution and to put Ghana first.
“I believe that the enforcement of the judgment debt ordered by this court should already have been executed impartially by the Attorney General without regard to political party or other considerations, in spite of the fact that the current Attorney General and her private law chambers had acted as lawyers for the judgement debtor in connection with his incurring the debt.”
Mr. Amadu said the officer at the AG’s Department who filed the processes against Mr. Woyome acted professionally but added that it was President Mahama himself who instructed the AG to discontinue the action because Mr. Woyome threatened to spill the beans over the actual beneficiaries of the huge amount.
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(Via: NewsGhana)
