Amidu trashes Ayine's 'too old' suit

Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu has asked the Supreme Court to trash a suit challenging his appointment based on his age.

In his response to the suit filed by former Deputy Attorney General, Dr Dominic Ayine, Mr Amidu described the suit “as being without any merit whatsoever under the 1992 Constitution”.

The opposition MP for Bolga East filed the suit arguing that Mr Amidu does not constitutionally qualify in terms of his age since he is 66 years now, which far exceeds the constitutional mandatory retirement age of 60.

According to Dr Ayine, even though a person occupying a public office could have his tenure extended until he is 65 years old, Mr Amidu is currently 66 years, and, so, cannot occupy that position.

However, Mr Amidu stated in his reply filed at the Supreme Court that Dr Ayine does not “appreciate the fact that Parliament has residual power under the 1992 Constitution to enact sui generis provisions in an Act of Parliament such as Section 13 of Act 959 to deal with matters such as the intractable canker of corruption and corruption-related offences expressly proscribed by the Constitution and laws of Ghana by engaging such legal talents on such terms and conditions as would effectively achieve the objective of the Constitutional proscriptions."