REMARKS
BY
GODFRED YEBOAH DAME
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL AND MINISTER FOR JUSTICE
AT THE COMMISSIONING OF
THE LAW HOUSE
(New Office Complex of the Office of Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice)
Monday, 10th June, 2024,
- a.m.
The Law House,
Accra.
HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC, NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFO-ADDO
HER LADYSHIP THE CHIEF JUSTICE, GERTRUDE ARABA ESABA SACKEY TORKONOO
JUSTICES OF THE SUPREME COURT AND JUSTICES OF OTHER SUPERIOR COURTS OF JUDICATURE
HONOURABLE MINISTERS OF STATE
FORMER ATTORNEYS-GENERAL
DEPUTY ATTORNEY-GENERAL AND DEPUTY MINISTER FOR JUSTICE
MEMBERS OF THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS, YOUR EXCELLENCIES
THE PRESIDENT OF THE GHANA BAR ASSOCIATION
THE SOLICITOR-GENERAL, THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS,
EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS AND HEADS OF AGENCIES UNDER THE OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL AND MINISTRY OF JUSTICE
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, FRIENDS FROM THE MEDIA
With great joy in my heart I welcome you to this event. Knowing the special place the Law House occupies in the hearts of state attorneys around the country, it is an honour to be the Attorney-General who has driven this project to completion. It is a day the Lord has made and we will rejoice in it.
When I was appointed the Attorney-General in 2021, I requested the relevant heads of agencies under the Ministry and all regional heads of the various for a presentation of what I termed “urgent and most pressing needs” so as to obtain a primary and comprehensive insight into the matters of utmost concern to the Office of the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice, its regional offices and various agencies under the Ministry. Top on the list of the presentation by the various heads of departments and regional offices was the debilitating office accommodation challenge.
The dreadful infrastructural and logistical hardships facing the Ministry were legendary as, even at the Head Office, some of the lawyers were operating from what is described in Ghanaian parlance as “containers”, a situation I considered very deplorable. I deemed it unacceptable for attorneys who assist important institutions of state navigate the myriad of legal challenges they are confronted with, and some of whom were Ivy League scholars to be using containers as their offices. Other problems principally related to grossly insufficient budget for the operations of the Ministry, lack of vehicles to facilitate the duties of state attorneys in justice delivery and severe technological challenges.
Working visits by me to the offices of various agencies under the Ministry of Justice, to ascertain at first hand the physical conditions under which they operate, confirmed the reports I received. These visits were revealing as the hugely undesirable working environments of some agencies and the lack of basic tools for service to the nation came to the fore.
Mr. President, by virtue of the duties you conferred on me with my appointment, I pledged my unalloyed commitment to a resolution of all the problems militating against the work of the Office of the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice. A resolution of the office accommodation challenge of the head office of the Ministry of Justice lay in the completion of the Law House. The shell of the block works had been sitting there for decades with same abandoned for a number of years.
I immediately got Messrs. Architectural Engineering Services Limited (AESL) to undertake a structural analysis in order to satisfy myself about the safety of a continuation of the construction.
AESL reported to me. They were fully confident about the results of the structural integrity. In all of this, the utmost cooperation of the President and his Minister for Finance were phenomenal. Sir, I sat down with you, I was the beneficiary of your kindness and goodwill. In the face of many competing demands on the public purse, your unique recognition of the importance of the legal sector to national development and the need to satisfy the critical needs of the sector were simply remarkable. I perceive the President’s commitment to this project as divine. He was responsible for the inception of the project as Attorney-General and he was the man to commission it as President of the Republic. Hardly have the stars aligned to make a story so remarkable!
Following a special appeal I made to Cabinet in June 2021, the Minister for Finance at the time, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, assured me of regular release of funds to support the construction of the Law House and he honoured his word.
My zeal to execute the project however, suffered its own hiccups. In assessing the volume of work to be done, I realised to my chagrin, that, the Agreement had expired since 2008. Works had been going on without any form of approval since then. The illegality of a continuation of works was not in doubt. I took account of my peculiar circumstance as one who is prosecuting for violations of procurement regulations and financial malpractices. I did not want to be, as we say in Ghanaian parlance, caught in the same soup, as those I am prosecuting for procurement breaches and violations of the Public Financial management laws. A considerable amount of time was thus spent on obtaining relevant statutory approvals for the project, particularly from the the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) for an engagement of the same company, which had been working on the project since about the year 2001 – Energo Projekt Limited – to continue with the outstanding works on the project.
The Ministry of Finance graciously granted a commencement warrant for the completion of the outstanding works on 3rd February, 2022.
Rather strangely, after the grant of the commencement warrant by the MoF, Energo Projekt started expressing an inability to continue with the Works as a result of some conditions in the commencement warrant given by MoF. The company terminated the contract. The Ministry of Justice accepted the termination, of course without any risk of judgment debt. We were compelled to take the rather painful decision to apply to the PPA to cancel the approval given in favour of that company, identify a new contractor for the project, and for PPA to approve the appointment of the new contractor.
It is necessary to state that, after scaling the initial challenges, the Ministry of Finance consistently honoured all requests for payment of works done by the contractor. It is thus a source of deep satisfaction that I see Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta come to share in the joy of this occasion with us.
Recounting the support of the Ministry of Finance as a worthy partner for the Office of Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice, I recall the release of the entire sum required by the Office of the Attorney-General for a satisfaction of its urgent needs in 2021. Out of this, the Ministry made a giant acquisition of 91 vehicles comprising saloon cars, pick-up vehicles and Toyota buses to assist in the performance of duties by state attorneys. The acquisition of 91 vehicle for the Office represented the biggest fleet ever acquired for the Ministry in its history.
Distinguished guests, I dream of a modern public legal service for our nation fully equipped to live up to its onerous constitutional and statutory duties of rendering competent legal advice to the Republic of Ghana, and, representing the State in the complexities of modern day local and international transactions. The Law House represents a giant step towards realising that dream. Consisting of 12 stories – ten stories above ground and a two-tier basement for car park – it is a model for efficiency of the use of public land. In addition to the good number of offices for state attorneys, it boasts of a vast conference room, a canteen, two libraries, rooms for pupils, interns and researchers, kitchenettes, and a big space on the 10th floor for parties. The Attorney-General’s facilities include a conference room which can seat about thirty people whilst there are two specific suites for two deputy Attorneys-General including a study and a room for their own personal assistants.
In view of the peculiar situation of the Office in which over 90% of the attorneys are women, I suggested to the contractors the setting up of special rooms for nursing mothers, i.e. lactation rooms or even gymnasiums for them to keep their shape. However, they would not immediately take it. We can sort it out later.
Mr. President, towards realising the dream of a modern public legal service, I daresay that the era where regional offices of the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice and other agencies of the Ministry perch in the corner of buildings belonging to other government institutions or are sometimes thrown out of premises in which they are licensees should be over soon. I am of the respectful view that every regional office of the Ministry of Justice ought to own at least a three-storey office. I have commenced discussions in this regard with the World Bank towards the possibility of a funding of this project.
I have assured the Board Chairman of the Legal Aid Commission, that, upon the completion of the Law House, I will spearhead efforts to obtain funding for the construction of a modern permanent office for the Legal Aid Commission. In the meantime, I hereby indicate that I will relinquish the use of the former office block of the Office of the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice for the Legal Aid Commission to utilise as its new office.
Ultimately, the building behind us, which presently houses the Council for Law Reporting and in which the Legal Aid Commission is a licensee, clearly has its better days behind it, and will have to be replaced with a much more modern edifice, in a few years, worthy of the noble services which the two institutions discharge in our country. The offices of the Law Reform Commission will experience the same.
Mr. President, when I take account of certain developments in the recent past, particularly activities like the construction of over100 courthouses and120 bungalows for judges of various courts across the country as well as the event we are witnessing today, all of which have a far-reaching effect of transforming justice delivery and quality of public legal service, I am compelled to christen the era in which we live as “the Golden Age of Infrastructure Development of the Law”. Indeed, hardly has there been a stage in the history of this country in which there has there been a whirlwind of infrastructure development in so far as legal service and justice delivery is concerned.
A core component of the modern legal service I envisage for the Office of the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice is the strengthening of the litigating capacity of the Office to rise to the demands of various facets of civil litigation including international arbitration and cases in foreign courts and tribunals. I am happy to state that the quality of representation of the State by the Office of the Attorney-General has considerably increased as the State holds its own in most international arbitrations, without the aid of foreign counsel, and most importantly, has gone on to achieve tremendous success in this regard. Even though the last four years has seen an extraordinary upsurge in international arbitration cases against the State, conspicuously, the State has emerged victorious in all the awards given in the international arbitrations it has participated in. We have shown that when given the opportunity, the black man is capable of managing his own affairs.
Distinguished guests, last night as I looked in admiration at how orderly and almost bare the desk in my new office looked (and those who are close to me know that I like space – big spaces), I quickly remembered that in less than a day, mountains of file will clutter the desk. Without a doubt, we must move away from this unhealthy situation. We cannot have a modern legal service without a fully functional digitised working environment. Thus, a significant phase in the creation of the modern legal service I speak about is the operationalisation of an integrated information management system for the Office of Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice or a full digitalisation of the operations of the office. A complete electronic management of all records at the office is non-negotiable. We cannot allow paper to clutter our working environment and destroy the beauty of what we have done with the Law House. Fully cognisant of the supreme benefits of technology, I will strive to augment the capacity of the Ministry to digitalise its operations by adding a fully functional modern electronic law library to these facilities as well as ensuring a complete electronic management of records.
I have said before, that, a well-oiled Attorney General’s Department is the biggest signpost for improved conditions in the practice of law. The industry of state attorneys must be properly complemented with a supply of resources needed to assist in the discharge of their functions. It is my hope that, today marks the beginning of the realisation of the quest to set up an efficient modern public legal service.
May the Law House live up to its purpose of being the symbol for excellence in legal service and a catalyst for an enhanced role of the Office of the Attorney-General in the affairs of state.
May God bless the Office of the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice as we take giant strides into the future together!
God bless us all!!
GODFRED YEBOAH DAME
ATTORNEY-GENERAL AND
MINISTER FOR JUSTICE
10/06/2024