Attempts by NDC MPs to remove AG likely to fail – Amaliba

A private Legal Practitioner, Abraham Amaliba has stated that attempts by Members of the Minority in Parliament to remove the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Dame might not be successful.

Speaking to Starr FM, Mr. Amaliba stated that various aspects of the directive from Parliament may be done by different officers adding that the motion by the NDC’s Minority must identify specifically what role the Attorney General should have played for which he has refused.

“If the directives emanating from Parliament were directed at the Attorney General and he has also decided that he was not going to comply then that is a good ground for a vote of censure. But if the directive was directed to him personally at his office or it was directed at the General Legal Council, he (Godfred Dame) is not the head of the GLC, it’s the Chief Justice.

“If it is GLC then I will find it difficult how the Attorney General will be responsible. So we need to be very clear on who is to carry out that directive, like I said if it is the AG then he is actually a candidate for a vote of censure if he refuses to obey the instructions of Parliament,” he told Starr FM.

A vote of censure is a vote of no confidence in the minister which will result in his removal if successful.

Members of the Minority in Parliament are reportedly readying themselves to move a motion for a vote of censure against Attorney General and Minister of Justice Godfred Yeboah Dame following his refusal to execute the resolution of Parliament over the 499 Law Students.

The NDC members of the chamber have reportedly gathered enough signatures to trigger the process and are awaiting the arrival of Speaker Alban Bagbin who is currently out of the jurisdiction.

The House on October 29 passed a resolution for the General Legal Council (GLC) to compel the Ghana Law School (GLS) to admit the 499 students who sat for the 2021 entrance exams and passed in accordance with the marking scheme as advertised.

The Attorney General has however rejected the resolution saying Parliament has no power

In a response to Parliament, the Attorney General said Parliament is “devoid of the power through the use of Parliamentary resolutions, to control the process of admission into the Ghana School of Law. The mode of exercising legislative power enshrined in article 106 of the Constitution does not admit resolutions.”