Ambulance case: Jakpa petitions Chief Justice over alleged bias by trial judge

The third accused in the ongoing ambulance trial, Richard Jakpa, has petitioned the Chief Justice over what he considers as unfair treatment.

According to Jakpa, he has been denied basic human rights and certain privileges to which individuals are entitled on numerous occasions during the proceedings.

Speaking to JoyNews, he said “Right from the beginning of this trial till today, I have not been treated fairly at all by the judge. I am saying that because I have written a petition to the Chief Justice on this. So, I am not speaking out of a vacuum and it is recorded. It is documented.

“When I wrote the petition to the Chief Justice and I enumerated all the instances of bias, abuse of my human rights, denying me legal representations and all the instances.
“Even the right to visit the washroom and the judge at times engaging me as an accused in court when I am a witness.”

Mr Jakpa emphasised that, based on these experiences, he is convinced the judge has already presumed his guilt and that he is merely going through the motions as required by law.

Further, the third accused asserted that Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame chose to prosecute the case against the Minority Leader in Parliament purely for political reasons.
According to Jakpa, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson appeared to be a threat to government business, and thus, they schemed to silence him.

He said “Attorney General came to court purely on political convenience and mischief to imprison Hon. Ato Forson and this stems from the E-levy.

“Because Honorable Ato Forson was the ranking member for the NDC in Parliament and he was giving them a headache, he was frustrating and being meticulous on the figures that Ken Ofori-Atta was bringing to Parliament.

Again, Mr Jakpa said he was only accused so that the public would not read into the witch-hunting activity the Attorney General was plotting.

Mr Jakpa alleged that former finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta had incited Mr Dame to prosecute the Minority Leader “to intimidate him to soften him in Parliament so that he doesn’t peruse and be too critical on the things that he Ken Ofori-Atta brings to the Finance Committee.”

Deputy Attorney General Alfred Tuah Yeboah has said Mr Jakpa’s claims were far from the truth.

He argued that Mr Dame was an accomplished practitioner and would not stoop so low.

“If you look at the AGs that we have in Ghana, if he [Godfred Dame] is not the best he will be one of the best when it comes to his courtroom appearance.

“Look at international arbitrations. An Attorney General who leads his team to go on international arbitration and win cases internationally not locally. So if you say local champion what does it mean?” he quizzed.