National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, has dared the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to furnish the public with evidence contrary to the tape released.
According to him, that is the only way the Attorney General, Godfred Dame can substantiate his claims of questions regarding supposed manipulations of the said tape.
This came up after NPP lawyer Frank Davies argued on JoyNews’ Newsfile that the NDC had earlier indicated they had a 26-minute conversation but played just 16 minutes at their press conference.
He further told the host, Samson Lardy Anyenini that “Nobody can tell anyone in this country the circumstances under which that conversation took place. They are saying it was a day before the court hearing.
But if you listen carefully, you will realize that it is a pieced-up document because you will never really hear coherently what the AG has said.
It was only Jakpa’s voice which was always heightened and you hear him speaking.”
But Sammy Gyamfi would have none of that.
“You don’t even have the looks in law to even say the tape is doctored because what you’re saying is total hearsay, you were not on that phone call. The person who was on that phone call is Mr Dame, who is very vibrant in the media. Neither Mr Dame or his spokesperson, my good friend, Wilberforce has been able, since we put we published this tape, on any media platform to say that the tape was doctored.
“The Office of the Attorney General has also not been able to say that the tape was doctored. So that wishy-washy response is very weak. We can’t work with it. Again, he [Frank Davies] said that the tape is pieced together so you should tell us which parts of the tape we have heard was pieced together. You don’t deny that there was a call? You don’t deny that the voice on the call was Mr Dame me. You say that possibly piece together which part has been pieced together. Show us?”
Meanwhile, private legal practitioner Kweku Paintsil does not think the outburst of the third accused in the controversial ambulance trial has any bearing on the substantive matter.
According to the lawyer, the mere fact that the witness, Richard Jakpa, introduced the purported issue of a prior conversation with the Attorney General, Godfred Dame, cannot change the course of the trial.
On the back of that, he insists that Mr. Dame did nothing wrong in deciding not to respond to Mr. Jakpa during the hearing where he was physically present.
Speaking on the same show, the lawyer explained that “the mere introduction of that evidence at the stage that he claimed the Attorney General was annoying him or whatever, I personally would not see how at the end of it, if we are summing up the case you can introduce that to sway or to persuade the judge or to make the judge believe that something that transpired out of the court has every influence on the outcome of the case.”
Richard Jakpa has already filed a court application seeking to have the charges against him dismissed or, alternatively, have the proceedings against him stayed.
The application was submitted on Thursday, May 30, 2024, by his lawyers.
In the application, Mr Jakpa argues that the charges and proceedings initiated by Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame constitute an abuse of court processes and violate the obligations set in the 1992 Constitution.
He contends that the Attorney-General is misusing his constitutional powers by prosecuting him without justification.
Mr Jakpa also claims that in private conversations, the Attorney-General admitted that there is no case against him.
This assertion further supports Mr Jakpa’s argument that the prosecution is unwarranted and constitutes an abuse of power.
“The Attorney-General at whose instance the Third Accused/ Applicant is being prosecuted in the instant suit has brought the charges and instituted the proceedings in abuse of the process of the court and contrary to his constitutional obligations under articles 23 and 296 of the 1992 Constitution.”
But the Attorney-General has asked the High Court in Accra to dismiss this application.
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