Whether you like it or not, AG is your boss

Attorney General, Dr Dominic Ayine [L] and private legal practitioner Atta Akyea

Policy analyst Atik Mohammed has criticized Samuel Atta Akyea, lawyer for former embattled National Signals Bureau (NSB) Director Kwabena Adu Boahene, over his grandstanding posture in the ongoing case in which his client is facing charges related to embezzlement, fraud, and illicit financial transactions.

The former Minister for Works and Housing has challenged the Attorney General, Dr Dominic Ayine, to meet him in court.

Speaking in an interview on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen, Atta Akyea accused Dr. Ayine of acting as both a court of law and a prosecutor to suit his own convenience.

But, as his senior at the Bar, the former Abuakwa South MP stated that he was willing for them to determine who really knows the law.

“The AG presented a one-sided story. Every lawyer who knows the law will tell you it has not been tested. So if the Attorney General portrays himself as the repository of the law, then we should tear up the Constitution,” he stated.

He asserted that the evidence in any case must be tried in court rather than being broadcast to the public and those who want to see New Patriotic Party (NPP) members put on trial.

“People are mounting pressure on him to make mistakes. He should let us meet in court; he is my junior at the Bar, and he’ll meet me in court. He knows the kind of person I am,” he vowed.

However, commenting on the issue in a panel discussion on Peace FM monitored by GhanaWeb, Atik Mohammed, former General Secretary of the People’s National Convention (PNC), condemned the approach adopted by Atta Akyea.

“Lawyer for the accused, Atta Akyea, has been talking—he has been saying a lot of things. I am a step shy of saying he has been singing, and the lyrics are very deep in some circumstances. It is good to show that you are who you think you are, but grandstanding could also be problematic.

“He says the AG is his junior at the Bar and that he should meet him in court. He is the leader of the Bar. He could even be your junior, but he is still your boss. So you could be ten years ahead of him at the Bar, but he is still your boss. This grandstanding—that he should meet you in court… As for the court, he would meet you there.

“When you raise germane issues, like saying the AG sounded as though the suspect was already guilty, I agreed with that. But proceeding to say he is your junior at the Bar—I think Atta Akyea could have cut that out.”

KA

Meanwhile, catch the first in the series of our special episodes on Forgotten Forts on People and Places on GhanaWeb TV below. This episode focuses on Fort Amsterdam at Abandze: