Former Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Godfred Yeboah Dame has dismissed claims that the Akufo-Addo government or his office was responsible for the recent acquittal and discharge of Sedina Tamakloe Attionu.
In a press release issued on 31 July 2026, Dame accused communicators of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and other government agents of circulating a “false and devious narrative” aimed at shifting blame onto him and the previous administration.
Dame stated that no notice of any appeal filed by Sedina Attionu in 2024 ever reached the Office of the Attorney-General during his tenure. State attorneys informed the Court of Appeal in April 2026 that they had not been served with any notice of appeal and only became aware of the proceedings after the court directed the parties to file written submissions.
He added that even if an appeal had been filed in 2024, it remained dormant because the appellant took no further steps until the NDC returned to power. As a result, the Republic had no obligation to act on the matter in 2024.
Dame emphasised that his primary responsibility after the successful prosecution was to ensure Attionu was returned to Ghana to serve her sentence. He pursued an extradition request, which was upheld by the United States District Court of Nevada on 9 April 2026. The court confirmed the extradition and committed her to custody pending transfer by the US Secretary of State.
Throughout the extradition proceedings, which ran from July 2024 to April 2026, no reference was made to any pending appeal filed in 2024, including in documents submitted by Attionu herself in the US court.
According to Dame, lawyers for Attionu only obtained leave to file written submissions on 10 February 2026 and filed them two days later—after he had left office.
State attorneys were served with those submissions on 16 February 2026 and expressed surprise, having had no prior knowledge of the appeal. They subsequently filed opposing submissions and sought leave to do so on 9 April 2026.
The Court of Appeal later ordered that three volumes of the Record of Appeal be made available to the Republic. An application to include additional documents was granted on 28 May 2026. On 17 June 2026, a different panel of the Court of Appeal adjourned the matter for judgment. Dame stressed that he was no longer Attorney-General during these critical stages.
Dame described public anger over the acquittal as justified, given the strong evidence led at the original trial. He linked the outcome to what he called the current Attorney-General’s pattern of discontinuing cases against leading NDC members and affiliates while aggressively pursuing opposition figures under the “ORAL” policy.
He compared the situation to the Woyome scandal, arguing that it reinforces a perception of two sets of laws in Ghana—one for political allies and another for opponents.
Dame concluded by calling on Ghanaians to demand higher standards of accountability from the government and the justice system.
