Photo: Godfred Yeboah Dame
Beatrice Annan, a presidential staffer and member of the Governing Board of the Bank of Ghana, has levelled serious allegations against former Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame, accusing him of orchestrating partisan pressure through the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) to influence President John Mahama’s stance on the controversial suspension of Araba Essabah Torkoono.
In remarks made during a weekend legal forum and later corroborated in an interview with The Guardian, Ms Annan, herself a legal practitioner and member of the GBA, claimed that Dame and other senior lawyers aligned with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) sought to weaponise the Bar to compel the President into reversing a constitutionally defensible suspension.
“I am a member of the Ghana Bar Association. Nobody can intimidate me—not even the Ghana Bar,” Ms Annan stated. “We all meet in court. We know ourselves. Maybe non-lawyers can fear the GBA, but not me.”
According to Ms Annan, the internal politics of the Bar Association took a sharp turn when a group of NPP-aligned lawyers, including Mr Dame and his former deputy, allegedly mobilised their members via a private WhatsApp group to dominate the GBA’s mid-year conference. The aim, she contended, was to generate internal resolutions that would place institutional pressure on the presidency.
“They were practically taking a register, asking NPP lawyers to be present at the mid-year conference so that they could come to put pressure on President Mahama,” she claimed. “This was after the GBA had initially released a very measured statement, acknowledging that the matter was before the courts and urging all parties to respect due process.”
Ms Annan, who also serves as a communications adviser to the presidency, warned that such manoeuvres risk politicising an already fragile legal space and undermining judicial independence. Her comments reflect growing unease among some legal and civil society actors about the increasing entanglement of partisan politics with institutional bodies meant to remain neutral.
Conflict Over Proceedings and Judicial Integrity
One of the most contentious issues revolves around the question of whether hearings involving Araba Essabah Torkoono should be held in camera. A subsequent GBA resolution called for public hearings and asked the President to revoke the suspension—an apparent reversal of its earlier neutral stance.
Ms Annan strongly criticised the GBA’s shift and singled out GBA Vice President Madam Afua Ghartey, questioning her motives.
“She cannot, on one breath, say that the matter is sub judice and therefore the GBA cannot speak on it, and in another breath ask the President to revoke the suspension and insist that proceedings be public,” she said. “If proceedings were held in camera, and that’s the lawful recommendation of the judicial panel, how does that batter the image of the Chief Justice? In fact, there are judicial precedents from the Supreme Court justifying private hearings where the policy rationale is clear.”
Her remarks point to a deepening schism within Ghana’s legal fraternity over the role of the GBA in political-judicial matters, especially when it pertains to high-profile administrative decisions by the Executive.
Legal Circles Respond
Efforts to reach Mr Dame and the GBA leadership for comment were unsuccessful at the time of filing this report. However, sources within the legal community confirmed the existence of both NDC and NPP-affiliated lawyer platforms, where strategy and messaging are often coordinated ahead of major Bar Association gatherings.
Critics of Ms Annan’s position argue that the Bar Association’s right to pass resolutions should not be equated with partisanship, while others contend that the Association has indeed drifted from its traditional mandate of professional neutrality.
Meanwhile, legal academics and former Bar Council members have begun calling for institutional reforms to insulate the GBA from party-political influence, with some proposing term limits and structural safeguards to prevent coordinated bloc voting at key conferences.
As the legal and political fallout continues, the case of Araba Essabah Torkoono appears set to become a litmus test—not only for judicial independence—but for how Ghana’s legal community navigates the fault lines of partisanship in an increasingly polarised republic.
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