I don’t mind being killed because of the corruption fight – Martin Amidu

Ghana’s Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu has noted that he is committed to the fight against corruption even if he does this at the peril of his life.

“At 68, I don’t care if they take me out,” he told veteran journalist David Ampofo on the Time With David show.

The anti-corruption crusader nicknamed “Citizen Vigilante” stated that his several write-ups in the media about challenges confronting his office; Office of the Special Prosecutor, are to moderate expectations of the public with regards to how expedited they expected him to prosecute persons suspected of having engaged in corruption.

Martin Amidu has been criticised by many for not having successfully prosecuted anyone barely a year and half two into office.

Recently, in defense to the snail pace at which he is going about his job, he said one of the major challenges hampering his work, aside his office being under-resourced, is the failure of some appointees of President Akufo-Addo to collaborate with him.

According to him, it will be practically impossible for him to effectively deliver on his mandate if the friction between his outfit and heads of critical government institutions is not eliminated.

Parliament passed a law in November 2017 to establish the Office of the Special Prosecutor as a specialized agency to investigate specific cases of corruption, involving public officers and individuals in the private sector implicated in corrupt practices, but the operations of the office are not going on smoothly.

Speaking at the National Audit Forum organised by the Ghana Audit Service, Mr. Amidu indicated that individuals heading government agencies have simply not been supportive.

“The success of the experiment would depend on the extent to which Ministries, Departments and Agencies in government with the responsibility to cooperate with the office to achieve the vision of the president who championed the setting up of the office.”

“The present situation where critical ministries and agencies have failed even with our limited constraints or refused to produce public records on demand to aid the office in critical investigations, offences running into millions of cedis, clearly demonstrates that there is divergence between the president’s vision and that of some of his appointees.” He said.