No awards please! – Amidu to Parliament

Special Prosecutor Nominee, Martin Amidu, has said he rejected awards given him for his anti-graft crusade work.

He suggested the work he has done were in the interest of the country and would not want awards for it

“I generally don’t accept awards. I would prefer people to emulate what I have done. People called me about my case at the Supreme Court and offered me awards but I told them that it wasn’t about me, it’s about Ghana,” Mr. Amidu told the Appointments Committee of Parliament Tuesday during his vetting.

He added: “It is not about Martin Amidu, I refuse awards because I want my work to be centered on national need of developing Ghana”.

Mr. Amidu’s comments followed queries from the Committee as to why there were no awards stated on his CV, which was considered “strange” bearing in mind his many achievements and articles published.

For him, lobbying for honours is not his style, saying “ours is to dedicate ourselves to the service of this nation without making any efforts for recognition because we joined the system not for awards but for what we can do for the people”.

The former Attorney General and Minister of Justice noted he has many times been written to and called upon to receive awards, but in those cases he encouraged others to instead emulate him.

“The government has not given me any award. I know people who took their law bar degrees from national awards. I’m not one such person,” he added.