A former Director of the Ghana School of Law has cautioned the legal team of former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to stop antagonising the public in their handling of the Special Prosecutor’s case against their client.
Professor Kwaku Ansa-Asare said the strategy being deployed by the former minister’s lawyers is backfiring and provoking public anger at a time when national patience over corruption is wearing thin.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Tuesday, June 3, Prof Ansa-Asare expressed disappointment at the legal team’s posture.
“What they are rather doing is antagonising the entire nation. They are infuriating people. They are provoking people,” he said.
He argued that the legal team’s public handling of Ofori-Atta’s reported illness was damaging the former minister’s credibility and eroding any sympathy he might have earned.
“It is a very sensational and screaming case which is testing the endurance of the Republic of Ghana in its fight against corruption,” he noted.
Prof Ansa-Asare said if Ofori-Atta is genuinely sick, as claimed, the right thing to do is to submit credible medical documentation in line with the law.
“If you are sick, please produce the document, because under the OSP law, there must be production of documents. After all, the law deals with evidence,” he advised.
He emphasised that no one, including the Special Prosecutor, will drag an ill person through the legal system without just cause.
“The Special Prosecutor is a human being. I don’t think he will, by all means, attempt to bring Ken Ofori-Atta to face the rigours of the law if he’s sick,” he said.
However, he warned that the absence of proper legal communication was creating the wrong impression.
“Putting out information on the internet that the former Finance Minister has been diagnosed with cancer, and therefore cannot show up physically, I think, will be begging the question,” he argued.
Prof Ansa-Asare made it clear that he does not oppose the right of any accused person to fair treatment.
But he insisted that public trust must be protected through transparent legal processes.
“Perhaps the legal team is not approaching the matter in a way that will attract the sympathy of the nation,” he warned.
“If I were in charge of the legal team, my advice to Ken would be that if you are sick, please produce the document, because under the OSP law, there must be production of documents.
“After all, the law deals with evidence. So if there’s hard evidence, no one can run away from the pieces of evidence that will be available,” he concluded.
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