The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has clarified that President John Dramani Mahama will indeed attend its 2025 Annual Conference in Wa as Guest of Honour, dismissing earlier claims suggesting otherwise.
The controversy began when Franklin Cudjoe, Founding President of IMANI Africa, criticized the GBA on social media for allegedly sidelining the sitting President. “From 2017 to 2024, the Special Guest for the Annual Bar Conference I’m reliably informed has been the President of Ghana.
This year, the Ghana Bar Association has dented the current president its courtesy to invite him,” Cudjoe wrote. He added sarcastically, “Instead they have chosen to invite the president of the UK Bar Council. I think they should invite the President of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association to complete the coup.”
In response, the GBA issued a statement on Thursday, August 21, confirming that President Mahama had been formally invited and had accepted.
The association explained that it paid a courtesy call in March 2025 to extend an informal invitation, followed by a formal letter on July 21, acknowledged by the Presidency on July 29. An official acceptance letter, dated August 1, confirmed his participation.
“The GBA will not do anything to undermine the authority and dignity of the office of the President of the Republic of Ghana, as it is a non-partisan Association,” the statement emphasized.
The association also clarified that inviting the Chair of the Bar Council of England and Wales was standard practice and did not indicate any sidelining of the President.
