Minister for Justice and Attorney General of the Republic, Godfred Yeboah Dame has stated that inspite the many challenges associated with his office, he has braved through the challenges to build a strong institution with the support of his two deputies.
The Attorney General made this known in his address at the 2024 annual general conference of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) held at the Great Hall of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) on Monday, 9 September 2024.
“The task of being an Attorney-General in the second term of a government is no easy one. It involves coming in at a time when the government has implemented a set of policies in its first term and made some tough and hard decisions that may not necessarily be popular with the people. As the Attorney-General, it thus involves making yourself unpopular by telling your colleague Ministers that they cannot pursue certain legislation and policies, which, although in the national interest, may be incompatible with the law,” Godfred Dame said.
“I remember the painful opinion I gave to the Minister for Finance on the domestic debt restructuring at a difficult time of the nation and as well as the advice I gave to the Minister for Health at perhaps, a more difficult time in the history of the nation, during the COVID-19 crisis.
“In our peculiar political environment, it also involves pitching yourself as a sworn enemy of your political adversaries through decisions you make that they consider as impinging on their political fortunes, particularly in terms of prosecution and defence of civil actions against the government.
“However, I have braved the challenges of the office and remained undaunted because I love the law, and I love utilising the law as an instrument for developing Ghanaian society. With courage and strength, I have taken the slings and arrows of critical free media, even when they are unjustified or wrong. I am strong in my conviction that there is no other institution that has affected, and, has the authority and the jurisdiction to affect so many components of justice in this country than the Office of the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice,” the Attorney General added.
“Whatever I have done since 2021, I did it in the best interests of state attorneys and staff at the Law Office. I could not be prouder of our record of achievement over the last three and half years, and I am happy to note that since my initial address of this conference at Bolgatanga in September, 2021, I have delivered and in some cases, exceeded the delivery of every single promise I have made to you,” Godfred Yeboah Dame further stated.
