The National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, acknowledges a general warning from a judge at the Accra High Court, emphasizing the need to moderate political discourse regarding an ongoing trial.
Mr Gyamfi, however, maintains that the judge’s specific warning to him regarding a recent statement in the case of Ato Forson versus The State was a misinterpretation of his remarks.
“In principle, the caution of the court was in order, we, in the NDC agree with it, that is why from the outset, we in the NDC have been very circumspect in what we say and have ensured that the court is not in any way or form scandalized,” he said earlier this week.
Justice Afia Asare-Botwe addressing the court on May 28, 2024, expressed discomfort with Gyamfi’s remarks suggesting that “if somebody can call an accused person without his lawyer, then that person can call a judge.”
Gyamfi clarified his statement in the courtroom, affirming that he did not specifically mention the judge overseeing the case or her tribunal.
“I think the particular reference to me was something that in my humble opinion the court got wrong. I took the opportunity to draw the court’s attention was not about this court or the presiding judge in this trial,” he told pressmen outside the court.
A-G Godfred Dame faces mounting pressure to step down following the release of an audio clip purportedly capturing a conversation between him and an accused individual in the ambulance procurement trial.
In the recording, Jakpa, the third defendant, engages in various discussions with Dame, with some portions suggesting Dame may be coaching Jakpa to incriminate the first defendant, Cassiel Ato Forson, the Minority Leader and former Deputy Finance Minister.
Forson and Jakpa stand accused of causing a €2.37 million financial loss to the state through a contract to purchase 200 ambulances between 2014 and 2016.
They are charged with willfully causing financial loss to the state, abetment, violating the Public Procurement Act, and intentionally misusing public funds, to which they have entered not guilty pleas.