NPP Communicators Roast Amidu

The President Nana Akufo-Addo has accepted the resignation of Martin Alamisi Burnes Kaiser Amidu as Ghana’s first Special Prosecutor.

The President in a letter authored on his behalf by the Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, stated that the President “has taken due note of the other matters raised in your letter, and government will issue a statement responding to them in due course”.

Amidu Out

Three years after his appointment, Mr. Amidu on Monday wrote to the President explaining his decision to resign from office to enable his appointing authority “to take steps to appoint a replacement to that position as required by law.”

In his resignation letter, the former Attorney General also revealed that his appointment authority made no effort to ensure that he was paid for his work since the state engaged his services in 2018.

Accordingly, the President has directed Mr. Amidu is remunerated for his services to the State.

“The President has directed me to ensure that all emoluments benefits due you under law are paid to you accordingly,” the Chief of Staff said.

Detailed Response

But the game is not over yet as the President appears to be buying time to appropriately address the issues Mr. Amidu raised in his letter some of which government officials have already disputed.

The President in a second letter released on his behalf, this time by Eugene Arhin, the Director of Communication at the Jubilee House said Nana Addo has taken due note of the other matters raised by the Special Prosecutor in his resignation letter and that the presidency will issue a detailed response to them shortly.

It added that the president has directed the chief of staff to contact Mr. Amidu to resolve all outstanding matters consequent upon is resignation.

Meanwhile, the New Patriotic Party has flatly dismissed allegations by Mr. Amidu, that government officials including President Akufo-Addo interfered with his office leading to his exit.

Mr. Amidu in a resignation letter to the President said “I should not ordinarily be announcing my resignation to the public myself but the traumatic experience I went through from 20th October 2020 to 2nd November 2020 when I conveyed in a thirteen (13) page letter the conclusions and observations on the analysis of the risk of corruption and anti-corruption assessment on the Report On Agyapa Royalties Limited Transactions and Other Matters Related Thereto to the President as Chairman of the National Security Council cautions against not bringing my resignation as the Special Prosecutor with immediate to the notice of the Ghanaian public and the world.

“In undertaking the analysis of the risk of prevention of corruption and anti-corruption assessment I sincerely believed that I was executing an independent mandate under the Office of the Special Prosecutor, Act, 2017 (Act 959) and the Office of the Special Prosecutor (Operations) Regulations, 2018 (L. I. 2374).

“The reaction I received for daring to produce the Agyapa Royalties Limited Transactions anti-corruption report convinces me beyond any reasonable doubt that I was not intended to exercise any independence as the Special Prosecutor in the prevention, investigation, prosecution, and recovery of assets of corruption. My position as the Special Prosecutor has consequently become clearly untenable,” a part of the resignation letter said.

But the NPP in a statement signed by its Communications Director, Yaw Buaben Asamoah yesterday stated that Mr. Amidu was exaggerating the alleged interference in his work by the President.

The Party describing Mr. Amidu’s exit as shocking also stated that the Special Prosecutor “chose to walk away from the golden opportunity of establishing a brand-new effective agency, having had the best part of three years to demonstrate and cement his undoubted anti-corruption credentials in doing so.”

“Mr. Amidu has not resigned because any investigation of his has been interfered with by the Presidency or any member of government. Since 2018, he has been offered all the room and support he needed by law and mandate and every money he has requested to set up an entirely new institution, which comes with its own challenges, and to operate the Office independently and efficiently. No political office holder has interfered in the administration of that Office.” The statement claimed.

Vague Claims

As though that is not enough, the Chairperson, Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament Ben Abdallah has also waded into the controversy saying Mr. Amidu’s claim of political interference in his job is vague.

But commenting on the development, Mr. Abdallah told Morning Starr that Mr. Amidu should offer further details to the obstruction claims against the President in his letter.

“What I and most of us know is that the OSP on his own notion carried out an investigation on the Agyapa deal. I will push Amidu to come out with facts and documents. How can you speak about political interference without giving details? On the issue of political interference, the statement captured in Amidu’s statement is vague”.

He said the resignation is shocking because Mr Amidu has been given the necessary resources to function.