The decision by suspended Chief Justice (CJ) Gertrude Torkornoo to appoint former Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame as her lawyer has drawn sharp criticism from private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu, who argues that the choice severely compromises public trust in the judicial process.
Describing it as “a very terrible choice,” Kpebu believes the Chief Justice has made a strategic and ethical error at a critical moment in her legal challenge.
“The optics are very bad in her choice of Godfred Yeboah Dame lawyer. It’s terrible. I mean, I can’t believe it. People had made comments earlier on so I thought the Chief Justice would have taken a cue”
Martin Kpebu, Private Legal Practitioner
Central to Kpebu’s argument is Dame’s involvement in the infamous Jakpa tape, which contains recordings of conversations implicating the Attorney General in various “unethical” actions. In Kpebu’s view, the tape disqualifies Dame from playing any role in defending the Chief Justice.
“He was suborning witnesses, coaching a witness and telling the witness to go and lie to the court, asking the witness to get a fake medical report,” Kpebu stated, highlighting all the moral reasons why Godfred Dame was the wrong choice for the Chief Justice.
He continued by recalling how the former Attorney General blamed the then President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo and Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta for his questionable role in the Jakpa case, saying that they “were on his neck to use the judicial system to prosecute Ato Forson and Jakpa.”
According to Kpebu, the authenticity of the tape is indisputable and legally affirmed as it was admitted into the evidence in court. “The tape is official – for the rest of Godfred Dame’s life, that tape is him.”
“Whether the case goes to the General Legal Council or not, whether he is found liable or not, the judge, Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe admitted the tape as authentic”
Martin Kpebu, Private Legal Practitioner
Integrity at Stake
The involvement of the Chief Justice with someone under such a cloud of controversy has raised broader concerns within the legal community. Kpebu questioned whether Dame’s evasion of disciplinary action is linked to his association with Torkornoo.
“For a lawyer who has done such a thing, and has many lawyers saying he should be sanctioned by the General Legal Council, and yet he has so far escaped it, the Chief Justice choosing Godfred Dame as her lawyer begins to raise a lot of suspicions.
“We are like, okay, so is it because of their alliance that Godfred Dame didn’t appear before the General Legal Council? Is it because of their alliance that Godfred Dame has not been sanctioned?”
Martin Kpebu, Private Legal Practitioner
Kpebu called on Chief Justice Torkornoo to reconsider her legal team, amidst expressions of sheer disbelief at her apparent lack of foresight and discretion in the matter so far. “The best thing for the Chief Justice to do is to disengage Godfred Dame.”
Despite his call for the Chief Justice to find new legal representation, Kpebu firmly stressed the damage already done by the decision. He also accused Dame of using the case as a vehicle to rehabilitate his own public image.
“Because of the terrible things he did in the Jakpa case, he thinks that by coming to court, weighing into these conversations and people talking about it, after a while, we will stop talking about the Jakpa case.
“But it is a lie, we will not stop talking about that Jakpa tape until Godfred Dame is sanctioned by the disciplinary committee of the General Legal Council”
Martin Kpebu, Private Legal Practitioner
Likening the disciplinary committee of the General Legal Council to a court where lawyers who breach their ethics are sanctioned, Kpebu reiterated that Dame must be held accountable and charged the former Attorney General to “prepare to face justice.”
For Kpebu, with the validity of the Jakpa tape established by its admittance in court, justice was the only thing left to be served and Godfred Dame must not be allowed to escape it irrespective of who he decides to represent in court.
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