Amidu will quit office as Special Prosecutor – Ndebugre predicts

Astute private legal practitioner, John Ndebugre says he can see Martin Amidu walking out of office as the Special Prosecutor soon, due to certain provisions in the law establishing his office that might frustrate the effective discharge of his mandate.

According to Ndebugre who’s a former MP for Zebilla he’s identified certain provisions in the law establishing the office of the Special Prosecutor that will create a conflict situation in the work of the latter.

He noted that knowing Mr Amidu for well over forty years and having worked with him, he sees the former Attorney General exiting his office because his work is going to be frustrated by the Board of the Office of Special Prosecutor.

“…There is at once a conflict situation, the mandate has been given to the office and some sanctions have been given to the Special Prosecutor, there’s a sub-section which claims that notwithstanding the fact that the Special Prosecutor accountable to the board, he has full control of bla bla bla, it’s a conflict situation. The Board is going to insist on its authority and the Special Prosecutor is going to insist on his independence. Knowing the person who has been nominated, the first few cases will have problems I can predict, and then Martin will simply walk out and then we’ll go back to square one. If you look through the Act the conflict situations are many,” Ndebugre said on News File on Joy FM Saturday.

The former PNDC Secretary (Regional Minister) for Upper East Region was confident Mr Amidu whom he describes as fiercely independent will be neutral in the discharge of his work and pursue persons engaged in corruption no matter whose ox is gored.

President Akufo-Addo on Thursday evening named the former Attorney General as the Special Prosecutor subject to Parliamentary approval.

This comes after President Akufo-Addo assented to five Acts including that of the Special Prosecutor on January 2, 2017, which were passed by Parliament last year.

Parliament passed the Office of the Special Prosecutor Bill in November last year, which allows for the establishment of an independent anti-corruption institution to deal with public officials who have been deemed or found liable to corrupt dealings.