MP Ekow Vincent Assafuah Questions Attorney-General Over “Classified” Memos in High-Profile Cases
The Member of Parliament for Old Tafo, Hon. Vincent Ekow Assafuah, is demanding clarity and accountability from the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice following a months-long standoff over the existence and classification of internal memos relating to the discontinuation of certain high-profile cases.
In a strongly worded statement released this week, the lawmaker accused the Attorney-General of deliberately obstructing access to public information and fabricating the existence of official memos to justify alleged political interference in the judicial process.
According to Hon. Assafuah, he filed a Right to Information (RTI) request on February 12, 2025, seeking access to specific documents allegedly authored by the Prosecution Department and submitted to the former Attorney-General which were said to recommend dropping several sensitive legal cases. After receiving no response within the 14-day statutory period, he submitted an internal review request on March 3, 2025, as stipulated by Section 31 of the RTI Act, 2019 (Act 989). That request was also ignored.
He subsequently escalated the matter to the Right to Information Commission, which acknowledged receipt of his complaint but responded on April 14, 2025, that the information requested was classified and therefore not accessible under the law.
However, Hon. Assafuah pointed to public comments made by Justice Srem Sai now Deputy Attorney-General during his vetting before Parliament on February 27, 2025, where he openly admitted to having seen the same memos, despite not holding any government office at the time.
“How does a private individual access what is now deemed ‘classified,’ while a sitting Member of Parliament is denied that same access?” he asked.
The MP laid out three possible interpretations of the situation, all of which he described as “damning”:
- That the memos are not classified, and the Attorney-General is deliberately concealing them under false pretenses.
- That the memos are classified, and Justice Srem Sai unlawfully accessed them and must be investigated.
- That the memos never existed, and the Attorney-General fabricated them to provide cover for politically motivated interference in judicial decisions.
“Whichever way you look at it, someone is lying. And not just lying to Parliament, but to Ghanaians who deserve better,” he said.
Hon. Assafuah described the situation as “a deliberate affront to transparency, an insult to the rule of law, and a betrayal of public trust.” He concluded by accusing the Attorney-General of fabricating the memos and called for both accountability and an official apology to the Ghanaian people.
