Press Release

July 10, 2012

MARTIN AMIDU ON GALLOPERS, SETTLEMENTS AND THE HALLOWED TRADITIONS OF THE OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL

By Martin A. B. K. Amidu

I have read and heard various versions of the story, narrative, and discourse on what the former Minister of Local Government and Rural Development describes as: “Press Statement, The Galloper II Vehicles.” July 2011 features prominently as the month in which a decision was made to discontinue or hold in abeyance the continuation of the case in Court to explore a possible settlement. In this regard, his matter touches upon the period of my tenure as the Attorney-General of the Republic of Ghana under Article 88 of the 1992 Constitution for which I am personally accountable to the people of Ghana for my conduct in office. I, therefore, have to speak out on this matter.

I took over as the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice on 21st January 2011 to 19th January 2012. Within the period that I was the Attorney-General under Article 88 of the Constitution I had the sole and personal responsibility under my oath of office for the running of the Attorney-General’s Department. Unlike Article 79 of the Constitution, Article 88 does not establish a position of a Deputy Attorney-General. Even in the case of the ordinary Ministerial level, the Chief of Staff wasted no time in reminding Deputy Ministers that they could not under the Constitution write or sign letters in their own capacity as Deputy Ministers. They had to do so only upon the instructions or the authority of the Minister under Article 78 and on behalf of the Minister.

The Joy News editor, Samson Lardy Ayenini, in an article on myjoyonline.com of 6th July 2012 claims to have gone through the stack of court documents on the Gallopers and states that African Automobile Limited “filed the writ in 2005”, and I believe, a statement of claim as well. This is because he adds that: “but the A-G at the time filed a defence, making a counter-claim.” He later gives a narration of the content of African Automobile Limited’s Statement of Claim after which he states to my utter shock and surprise that: “In July 2011, African Automobile Ltd. applied to the court to discontinue with the case stating the possibility of settlement negotiations.” I have been shocked and amazed because if in July 2011 the Attorney-General had a defence and counter-claim in the suit the only person who could have given express authority for the Attorney-General’s office to accept any offer to hold the case in abeyance to attempt an out of Court settlement was myself, the Attorney-General at the time. In my unavoidable absence for whatever reasons the President had to specifically appoint in writing another Minister to double as Minister of Justice (not as Attorney-General) to act in my place with a copy of the letter to me to enable me hand over to that Minister.

No such temporary appointment took place in July 2011. Neither the Deputy Attorney-General, Hon. Barton Odro, MP, who took liberties for claiming to hail from Cape Coast with the President of the Republic nor the Solicitor-General, Mrs. Amma Gaisie had the constitutional authority under Article 88 to make such an important and critical decision which could cost millions of Ghana Cedis to the Republic without my expressed concurrence and in writing. I make bold to say that not even the President who appointed me as the Attorney-General could under Article 88 of the Constitution delegate my constitutional functions as the Attorney-General to any other person or authority without first relieving me of my appointment by express revocation of my warrant of appointment.

This is why I state unequivocally that any decision by anybody to hold in abeyance the conduct of the case between African Automobile Limited Vs. the Attorney-General in July 2011 which was not made by me, as the Attorney-General, was unconstitutional, fraudulent, null and void as contravening Article 1(2) of the Constitution. It could only have been intended to promote some self serving purpose by the person or persons who took the decision in violation of Article 88 of the Constitution particularly, sub-clause (5) thereof.

And I wish to state for the avoidance of doubt that no file on the case involving the Galloper II Vehicles was ever submitted to me as Attorney-General with recommendations for any decision whatsoever. I challenge the Deputy Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General during my tenure of office to produce evidence to the public that the file on the Gallopers was ever brought to my attention as the Attorney-General for any action and my instructions thereon to have warranted an agreement in July 2011 to enter into settlement discussions on behalf of the Republic of Ghana. If there is no such evidence on the file, then, the Deputy Attorney-General, Hon. Barton Odro, and the Solicitor-General, Mrs. Amma Gaisie, have some explaining to do to the people of Ghana; how come the case was discontinued or held in abeyance for settlement without authority from the Attorney-General?

If the alleged discontinuance or holding of the case in abeyance was done unconstitutionally it will follow that my successor cannot rectify a void and unconstitutional act by any usurpers of the authority granted the Attorney-General under Article 88. Any experienced legal practitioner assuming the office of the Attorney-General must have satisfied himself by now that any on-going settlements he inherited were properly authorized by the person with Constitutional authority to do so. The Deputy Attorney-General, Hon. Barton Odro, and the Solicitor-General, know that I always insisted that whatever I continued from my predecessor was properly authorized in accordance with the law since I had personal responsibility for whatever happened during my tenure. No Commission of Enquiry or Court would take the excuse that ones predecessor breached the Constitution so one also continued to do so.

In accordance with the hallowed tradition of the Attorney-General’s office the Deputy Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General should state whether or not the holding of the case in abeyance for settlement negotiations was initiated by the Attorneys directly handling the case in the Court or upon instructions from either of them. If the Attorneys handling the case initiated the negotiations for settlement there must be memoranda coming up to the Solicitor-General and beyond stating the necessity for a settlement. If it was initiated from the Deputy Attorney-General or the Solicitor-General there must similarly be a memorandum or memoranda to the Attorney-General recommending the necessity for a settlement. The Deputy Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General know that this was the procedure adopted when recommendations were made to me on 11th November 2011 to consider the proposals for withdrawal of the case of Attorney-General Vs. Alfred Agbesi Woyome from the High Court for settlement negotiations which I refused, for good legal reasons