Godfred Dame rejects vacation trials, calls practice discriminatory

‎By: Godbless Asaana
‎Former Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame has strongly opposed the scheduling of substantive trials during the annual legal vacation without the consent of all parties, describing the practice as discriminatory and contrary to long-standing legal tradition.
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‎Mr. Dame, who represents former National Food and Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) Chief Executive Officer Hanan Abdul-Wahab Aludiba, raised the concerns while speaking to journalists after proceedings on Monday, August 17, 2026.
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‎Questioning the basis for fixing trials during the statutory recess, Mr. Dame asked: “How can you just fix a trial in the vacation without the consent of the parties? Was it pursuant to the request from the Attorney General?”
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‎He argued that if the legal vacation was to be scrapped, it should apply equally to all cases and not selectively target a few matters.
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‎“If you want to scrap legal vacation, then scrap it for everybody. You can’t discriminatorily select about 3 or 4 cases and say you want to subject them to trial in the vacation,” he declared.
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‎“It cannot be that there can be one set of rules for one set of people and another set of rules for a different set of people.”
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‎Dame said he had never experienced a situation where litigants were compelled to attend substantive trials during the legal vacation.
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‎“It has never happened before, so why should it happen now?” he asked. “What was the basis for the urgency? There’s no emergency about this matter.”
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‎Explaining his appearance in court on Monday, the former Attorney-General said he was there to address pending interlocutory applications and explain why proceedings at the High Court should be halted pending the determination of a matter before the Court of Appeal.
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‎“We came today first to satisfy the court on why most of the proceedings we have filed long before all these controversies and issues came up should warrant the court halting proceedings pending the determination of that motion pending at the Court of Appeal,” he explained.
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‎Mr. Dame, however, made it clear that he would not participate in further substantive trial proceedings during the legal vacation.
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‎“Yes, indeed, I’m not going to be available. As a matter of fact, I’m not going to be available, and it’s in keeping with the position I’ve taken all along that we do not attend trials in the vacation except by personal agreement between the parties,” he stated firmly.
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‎His comments come after Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie defended the sitting of courts during the legal vacation, explaining that the recess does not prevent judges from sitting or hearing cases.
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‎The Chief Justice has maintained that judges are expected to continue working on scheduled cases and attend to emergency processes rather than completely suspending judicial work during the vacation.