Could you give us a brief historical background of your professional career before your appointment as Attorney General?
I am an English trained lawyer who spent my early years as a lawyer in France.I worked with an American law firm, one of the major international law firms, for 5 years in Paris. I came back home and founded my own law practice, today one of the best known in Ghana. I have basically been in private practice as a lawyer for the last 30 years until I was appointed Attorney General. I have been in politics since the mid 70's. It began in 1977 when the then military government of General Acheampong wanted to force a system of governance on us, the Union Government, popularly called “uni-gov”. The military leaders wanted to test the system in a referendum, which was opposed by a group of people including myself. We came together and formed an organization called The Peoples Movement For Freedom And Justice (PMFJ), which was led by General Akwasi Amankwah Afrifa, the man who overthrew Kwame Nkrumah, together with some of the senior political figures of the day like William Ofori-Atta and K.A. Gbedema. I was the General Secretary of the Movement, and we were able to mobilize a majority of the people in this country to reject the idea of uni-gov. As a result, I had to flee into exile briefly in England. That was how I began in politics.My family has been very much involved in Ghanaian politics from the very beginning.The man who founded the nationalist movement and the first nationalist organization was my grand-father, and of the legendary group, called the “Big Six” in our history, who, in the 1940s, at the very beginning, stood up to be the founders of Ghanaian nationalism, three of them were members of my family. The NPP symbolizes the political tradition founded by him, J.B. Danquah, who was Kwame Nkrumah's greatest opponent. He represented the liberal democratic idea of Ghanaian politics, which is private enterprise, free market, rule of law, and respect for human rights.That paradigm of politics is very much the political tradition from which I come.
What has been the impact of the legal system on the political environment?
It is important to note that, since independence and the establishment of the one-party state during the First Republic, authoritarian rule has been the norm in our country.We had first of all Kwame Nkrumah, and then a succession of military rulers.That has been the dominant element in our political and national lives. The general environment, that is the legal, political, and cultural, has been very supportive of dictatorial rule. Rawlings is a classic example of that.Clearly, in our own country the demand for a more accountable government is what produced the restoration of democratic rule at the beginning of the 1990s.Since then, the legal environment has been shaped to pave the way for the open society. We now have a legal and regulatory framework very much more sympathetic to the exercise of private property rights, the development of our economy on the basis of private initiative and the establishment of institutions of our state in the normal democratic order.That is what we have seen in the last eight years and hopefully, that process is going to be solidified, deepened and intensified, because we have known one variety or another of dictatorial rule in Ghana and the vast majority of our people now want to live in conditions of democratic accountability, which is the basis for our coming into power. The mandate we have been given is for fashioning an open society, where individual enterprise and initiative are the key source of wealth creation, generally to provide an environment where the creativity and initiative of our people will be the solution to our problems, and not necessarily using the powers of the State and the mobilization of State resources. That is the paradigm that we are trying to implement in this country.
Can we expect any amendment of the constitution?
The interpretation of the Constitution is not a matter for us in the Executive. It is a matter for the judges. The Constitution was prepared eight years ago by the Consultative Assembly in rather controversial circumstances.The main body of the Constitution, for most of us, is very workable. Obviously, in the constitution of any country, there is the need to change some particular ideas to meet evolving circumstances. The basic framework of the Constitution is to establish a system of government based on the separation of powers such as an independent judiciary, an independent legislature, and an independent executive.This is the fundamental framework that we are going to do everything in our power to uphold, consolidate and deepen its hold over our body politic. We think that is the right way forward.We are looking at possible amendments of the Constitution in areas where we have encountered administrative problems, for example, the very elaborate provisions in our Constitution on dates for holding elections. We all nearly got into a major twist during the last elections, because nobody had been prepared for a second round of voting.Constitutional arrangements talked about it but practically none of us had any idea of what was going to happen, so when it happened we were really caught napping. The President had literally ten days to prepare for his succession. The first round of elections was held on the 7th December 2000.The Constitution says the second round election should be done within three weeks after the first round - the Electoral Commission fixed therefore 28th. At the same time, the term of office of the out-going President was coming to an end on mid-night of the 6th of January. This meant that effectively the period between 28th December and 6th of January was the time the President had left to prepare for his transition. We need to look at that matter critically.I think that there is general consensus in the country that the Constitution should be amended to give us a more realistic framework. That is what I am talking about, and not in terms of the fundamental principles on which the Constitution is based. We accept the idea of limited government and we accept the idea of government founded on the separation of powers as the best way in which our country should be governed.
President Kuffour declared in his hundred days' government speech that the present government would not tolerate corruption. What measure do you intend to implement in that respect?
The President made that statement before his hundred days in office.He made this statement at his inauguration and it is a very important commitment that has been made to the people.What have been lacking to some extent in our country are institutions capable of working as the Constitution mandates. We are looking at the various instruments of accountability in our country like the parliament, the judiciary, the various law enforcement agencies, the criminal investigations department of police etc.All of these are bodies that are meant to make the idea of an accountable government real. Unfortunately for us, their true purpose has been corrupted. | So, our first task is to put those institutions back into shape so that they can do their jobs efficiently.It is not so much a question of what I, as Attorney General will do, but how institutions will operate, so that our system operates like the American system for instance, where special prosecutors can investigate a sitting President for one or other alleged mal-practice etc. We want to have that sort of system in our country, where the institutions of government are working in such a way that the checks and balances actually happen. We know this will be possible when everyone of these institutions has a clear idea what its duties are and has the means to go out and carry them out.Obviously, this is the very beginning of our term of government and we are trying to pull the system together. Our main concern is for the various bodies that have been set up in the State to be strengthened. The only way by which we can achieve accountability is for the various bodies to work independently of each other. For instance, CHRAJ should be able to do its work without depending on the Attorney General's Department for lawyers or logistics; Judges should be able to determine cases that come before them quickly, and the Police should have means to be able to investigate crime of any sort efficiently.We need to get the institutional mechanism that allows accountability to be real to work. That is the most effective way of dealing with corruption.
What measures should be implemented - if any - to protect foreign investment?
Once again, I think the institutions of the state should do the protection of the investor, foreign or domestic. For example, in the matter involving the American lady, (the quality grain scandal), it is now obvious that the facilities that were extended to her in the form of loans and guarantees ought first of all to have been ratified and approved by Parliament. This was not done and that is definitely a problem of accountability.If the officials involved in the approval of the facility in that case had dealt with it using the laid down procedures of the Constitution, the approval of those loans would have come before Parliament and opened to debate by Members of Parliament.There definitely would have been questions as to why another 12 million dollars be approved when 6 million dollars had already gone down the drain. This way, maybe the damage could have been controlled, but since the officials chose to ignore the clear provisions of the law, the situation got out of hand. Evidence coming through, which we already had before coming into government when we were in opposition and which are now confirmed, suggest to us that large amounts of state funds were not properly used. We believe that people involved in the misuse of these funds will have to account for it. My responsibility in such situations is to put a case before the Judges and then the Judges will determine whether the case has enough quality or not; that is the system we want to get going in this country. Whether one is a high or low public official, if one falls short on the service or what is supposed to be one's duties and obligations, the society can hold one accountable in one way or the other.So far as the state protecting itself is concerned, our first task is to adhere to and to strengthen the mechanisms that are already in place.If a loan requires parliamentary approval, let it go to Parliament. If this is not done, people must be prepared to face the consequences when things go wrong in the future.There has been little or no liaison between institutions like the Bank of Ghana, the Ministry of Finance, and the Controller and Accountant General's Office; the absence of liaison permits all sorts of anomalies to occur. That is why we are trying to make sure that the institutions put in place to do these jobs do so efficiently and effectively. Another major concern is the reform of the investment laws of our country. The present investment system was created on the assumption that we would have a one-stop shop for investors coming into our country. It was done in such a way that investors could go there and show what documents they had, what they wanted to do etc., and in one decision they could be dealt with and then get their papers processed and approved.It turns out that at the moment there are about three or four different institutions; GIPC, Gateway etc., who are dealing with investment matters in this country.We want to rationalize that and let the one-stop shop concept really operate. We will have a new center, which will pull together all these various other agencies.We must also ensure that the process for the scrutiny of investors is also strengthened.Going back to the quality grain issue for instance, it turns out that the lady had never had any experience in rice production. Serious investigation would have revealed this. In fact, a serious investigation was conducted in America, using the Ghanaian Embassy there.They went down to Tennessee to investigate the case and came back to say that she had no experience in rice production whatsoever. Somehow or other that information from the Embassy was ignored or not fully used. So, mechanisms for investigation of investors will have to be strengthened to enable us weed out the bad from the genuine ones.
Minister Osafo-Maafo mentioned the fact that GIPC would be the primary institution to deal with investors. To your opinion, would they also be in charge of investigations?
There will have to be an arm of them there to be able to identify the genuine investors who are coming in from those who are coming to try and find a way to rip off the country.Anyway, at the end of the day, one can never be ripped off by anyone unless one wants to be ripped off, in my view, by and large.What we need to do is to reform and rationalize the law, the institutions, as well as improve the capability and the quality of the human beings that are manning the system.It is a general overall package of measures that we are trying to put in place.We are looking for a situation where we can in a very short space of time be able to improve quite dramatically the salaries of people in the public sector.It is not fair for instance to ask a customs official who is earning less than a dollar a day to wave or sign a piece of paper for someone to be exempted from millions and millions of cedis of tax. So we need also to tackle that area. The President has already raised this matter as an important matter for the nation, and I think he is quiet right to do so, so that we can begin to talk about it and try to carve for ourselves a much more realistic structure for the public sector. This will be another improvement in ensuring integrity.
What final message would you address to the international community?
Basically they should realize that for the first time in Ghana's history, we have people in power who are interested in promoting private sector development in our country.That is fundamental; as this has been our political mission i.e. establishing the open society, the free market, as well as a society based on individual initiative and enterprise. Our government's concern is what we can do to stimulate local indigenous Ghanaian involvement in our economy. Therefore, encouraging our entrepreneurs and our own sense of initiative and dynamism is the way which we see as providing the sound basis on which we can attract foreign investment to our country.If local businesses are working, foreign businesses will be encouraged to join in. Our country has a lot of potential, including a hardworking, talented people, and the time has come to vigorously tap that potential so that our people can have a better quality of life. |
V.I.P. INTERVIEWS 
