GII expects Special Prosecutor to be fair and firm

The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), an anti-corruption institution, says it expects Mr Martin Amidu, the newly nominated Special Prosecutor to be unbiased, fair and firm to all manner of persons.

The Institution urged the Office of the Special Prosecutor to be fair and ensure that corruption was controlled if not eliminated to gain public confidence.

He should also allow the rule of law to be the guiding principle of his work.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, Mr Michael Boadi, the Corporate Affairs Manager of GII, said the organisation hailed the nomination of Mr Amidu as good news since it was consistent with the law.

According to him, the law prescribed that the individual should not be less than 12 years with the Ghana Bar Association, be a Ghanaian and does not owe allegiance to any other country, must be somebody of integrity and have proven record of fighting against corruption, and these requirements the GII believed Mr Amidu met.

“The interesting aspect of the nomination is that Mr Amidu is coming from a different political persuasion, which signifies that the country’s governance arrangements or democracy is growing, a further demonstration of maturity in our political dispensation.”

Mr Boadi noted that, what made the nomination interesting was the fact that “Mr Amidu had done some work towards fighting corruption, which is the Woyome case”, adding that, what was lacking in the fight against corruption was the investigation and prosecution of offenders.

He said the nomination of a Special Prosecutor was to enhance the fight against corruption and the fact that he has demonstrated a commitment to fight corruption was also a welcoming development.

“We don’t expect the office of the Special Prosecutor to be biased towards a certain political party at the expense of another. At the end of his term, we should be able to say that he has made corruption a high risk and a low gain”.

The Corporate Affairs Manager said the GII expected that within the first year, the office of the Special Prosecutor would intensify the campaign and carry the public along with their programmes, adding that, this would woo the confidence of the citizenry to discharge their duty in an efficient manner.

“We all have a duty to support the work of the Special Prosecutor to succeed and our Institution expects to see an increased level of transparency in the law and enforcement agencies, especially with regard to the fight against corruption.”

Mr Boadi urged government to pass the Right to Information Bill and the Conduct of Public Officer’s Bill to enable the citizens to give their maximum weight to the work of the special prosecutor.