Amidu’s resignation is a dent on corruption fight – Governance Watch Ghana

Civil society group Governance Watch Ghana has said the resignation of Mr. Martin Amidu from office as Special Prosecutor is a show of the “government’s lack of will and commitment to fight corruption.”

In a statement issued on Tuesday, 17 November 2020, the group indicated that Mr. Amidu’s resignation, which, according to him, was occasioned by political interference in the discharge of his duties, is “unfortunate and a dent on our forward march, as a developing nation.”

The group, in the statement, identified some loopholes in the structure of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), adding that the anomalies must be fixed before Mr. Amidu’s replacement is found.

“While we uphold the principles establishing the Office of Special Prosecutor, we wish to reiterate that the office, in its current form – without staff, having to operate with staff on secondment, over-reliance on the extra powers of the office of the Attorney General – cannot be effective no matter who is appointed to replace the resigned Special Prosecutor.

“We wish to admonish the government to show overwhelming commitment in the fight against corruption. The details, as contained in the letter by the Special Prosecutor, reveals severe interference and exposure of the Office of Special Prosecutor to Executive interference, which must be cured completely before finding a replacement,” parts of the statement read.

Mr. Amidu resigned effective Monday, 16 November 2020.

According to his four-page resignation letter, President Nana Akufo-Addo was interfering with the performance of his duties in relation to the corruption and anti-corruption risk assessment he did on the controversial Agyapa Royalties Transaction.

Read the full statement from Governance Watch Ghana below:

MR. MARTIN AMIDU’S RESIGNATION AS SPECIAL PROSECUTOR A DENT ON THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION – GOVERNANCE WATCH GHANA

Having assessed the letter of resignation by the Special Prosecutor Mr Martin A.B.K. Amidu addressed to the President of the Republic a copy of which was released to the public dated 16th November 2020, we have concluded that the resignation was unfortunate and could have been avoided.

In the 4-page letter, Mr Amidu recounted how he was starved in ensuring the efficiency of his office. He proceeded to recount how his recent audacity to venture into a risk assessment exercise of the Agyapa Royalties deal with a subsequent report into the public, appeared to have severed his thriving relationship with the President.

While we uphold the principles establishing the Office of Special Prosecutor, we wish to reiterate that the office, in its current form without staff, having to operate with staff on secondment, over-reliance on the extra powers of the office of the Attorney General, cannot be effective no matter who is appointed to replace the resigned Special Prosecutor.

We wish to admonish government to show overwhelming commitment in the fight against corruption. The details as contained in the letter by the Special Prosecutor reveals severe interference and exposure of the Office of Special Prosecutor to Executive interference which must be cured completely before finding a replacement.

We are by this statement expressing our disappointment in the events leading to the resignation of Mr Amidu especially linked to the execution of his independent mandate in the matter of Agyapa Royalties deal.

Government has also shown its lack of will and commitment to fight corruption which we regard as unfortunate and a dent on our forward match as a developing nation.

The Office of Special Prosecutor was supposed to serve as an important office that would lead the crusade in the fight against corruption. Unfortunately, events of yesterday present a different image to the general public and indeed the international community which we believe must be restored.

God bless our homeland Ghana!

Signed:

Stephen Kwabena Attuh (Executive Director)