‘I will not be available’ – Godfred Dame rejects vacation hearing in Hanan trial

Godfred Yeboah Dame, the former Attorney General, has expressed his refusal to participate in court proceedings scheduled to take place during a legal vacation in the case against the former National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) CEO, Hanan Abdul-Hamid. Dame, who is representing Abdul-Hamid, expressed his stance in court on Monday, August 17, as his legal team sought to persuade the court to suspend proceedings pending a decision from the Court of Appeal.

The court informed the legal team that it would first await a ruling from the Supreme Court before permitting the team to argue their motion for a stay of proceedings. Dame emphasized that he would not be available for any court proceedings during the legal vacation, asserting that he had never witnessed a situation where a litigant was required to attend a trial during that period.

He questioned the urgency of the case, stating that there was no compelling reason to justify the court's decision to hold proceedings during the vacation. According to Dame's experience in over two decades of legal practice, courts only convened during the legal vacation in exceptional circumstances, primarily in election-related matters that required urgent constitutional resolutions.

He cited a 2012 case involving the Electoral Commission, which he had previously handled, as an example of a situation that warranted proceedings during the legal vacation. Dame argued that applications requesting a stay of proceedings are routine and have been granted in prior cases. He further explained that courts have previously suspended proceedings while applications for a stay were under consideration.