‘President Mahama has accepted invitation to Bar Conference’ – GBA responds
The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has reacted to allegations that it refused to invite President John Dramani Mahama to its upcoming 2025 Annual Conference, which will be held in Wa, the capital of the Upper West Region.
The claim that President Mahama was not invited to the GBA conference was first made by the Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, who called out the leadership of the GBA over what he described as their apparent aversion to President John Dramani Mahama.
He drew a contrast between speakers at GBA conferences over the past eight years and the lineup for the upcoming edition to support his case.
In a post on his X page on Wednesday, August 20, 2025, the Minority Chief Whip shared a list of speakers scheduled for the GBA’s 2025 Annual Conference and noted that while the association almost always platformed former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo during his tenure, the current President did not make the list for this year’s edition.
“Your unalloyed bias against JDM and the NDC government is too glaring to be ignored now. You can continue to act as a wing of the main opposition party to do its bidding; we are ready for you. I saw how the GBA organized its Annual Conference from 2017-2024 in this country. The then Prez, Nana Akufo-Addo, was nearly always the Special Guest of Honour & Speaker. That isn’t the case in 2025. The Prez is conspicuously missing from the list of advertised speakers at the confab,” he wrote.
In a strongly worded statement issued by its National President, Efua Ghartey, and National Secretary, the GBA, without naming the MP, stated that the allegations were “false, misleading and a misconception of facts.”
It clarified that the President has not only been invited to the conference but has also accepted to be its Guest of Honour.
“The GBA wishes to set the record straight by stating that the President of the Republic, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, has been invited as the Guest of Honour at the 2025 Annual Conference of the GBA to be held in Wa, the Upper West Regional capital, and the President has graciously accepted to honour the invitation.
“As far back as March 2025, the Bar Council paid a courtesy call on the President and extended an informal invitation. Thereafter, we sent a formal invitation letter dated 21st July 2025, which was received at the Presidency on 29th July 2025. Subsequently, the GBA received an acceptance letter from the Presidency dated 1st August 2025, with Ref. No. OPS 311/25/2817,” parts of the statement read.
The association explained that an earlier publication of notice on the 2025 Annual Conference did not include President Mahama because, at that time, it had not received the response to his invitation.
It added that a subsequent notice, which stated that “This year’s Conference shall be under the distinguished patronage of H.E. John Dramani Mahama, the President of the Republic of Ghana, as Guest of Honour,” was published after the President’s response to his invitation had been received.
