Godfred Yeboah Dame, the current Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Ghana
Godfred Yeboah Dame, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, has asserted that it is the unique prerogative of a trial judge to decide whether or not to adopt earlier procedures. Dame made this statement in a recent interview.
According to him, "The true position of the law," as to who gets to decide what it is, "is actually up to the trial judge to make that determination." This conclusion is made by the judge who presided over the trial based on the factors that he deems necessary.
These comments were made by Godfred Dame as he was addressing to journalists shortly after gaining a favorable verdict at the Court of Appeal at the beginning of this month. The decision overturned a finding from the High Court which directed that the trial of the former COCOBOD boss and two others should begin all over again.
However, he emphasized that, in the event that a party is dissatisfied with the judgment made by the court, they have the right to contest that decision.
A former Chief Executive of COCOBOD named Dr. Stephen Opuni, a businessman named Seidu Agongo, and Agricult Ghana Limited are all facing 27 charges related to the purchase of Lithovit liquid fertilizer between 2014 and 2016. The charges include willfully causing financial loss to the state and contravening the Public Procurement Act in the process of making the purchase.
They have all entered not guilty pleas, and at this time they are all free on bail.
After the retirement of previous Supreme Court judge Justice Clemence Honyenuga, the case was initially given to Justice Kwasi Anokye Gyimah to hear and decide.
And as one of the judge's first significant acts, he turned down a request from the prosecution to adopt the proceedings of Justice Honyenuga, who had previously served on the Supreme Court but had since resigned.
In his ruling from April 4, 2023, he stated, "If I adopt the proceedings, I am basically adopting every act and decision that has been taken by the previous judge in the matter and I will be saddled with the same suspicions and allegations of unfairness that have been leveled against the current state of the proceedings." "If I adopt the proceedings," he said, "I am basically adopting every act and decision that has been taken by the previous judge in the matter."
Justice Gyimah further cited to section 80(2) (a) of NRCD 323, which stipulates that the demeanor of a witness is one of the characteristics a court is obligated to consider when determining the credibility of a witness.
"As much as that may be the right position, in a criminal trial where the liberty of the accused is at stake and where the accused is by law presumed innocent and also entitled to a fair trial, the court should not ignore any factor, regardless of how small or insignificant its effect, that will enhance the opportunities for a fair trial of an accused person,"
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