You don’t set out to destroy a presidential candidate - Edudzi Tamakloe tells Martin Amidu

A legal team member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe has said the Special Prosecutor has displayed unprofessionalism in his handling on the Airbus scandal involving former president John Dramani Mahama.

Edudzi Tamakloe argues that it is wrong on the part of the Special Prosecutor to seek to destroy the former president who is seeking to be re-elected for his second term.

According to him, John Dramani Mahama still enjoys some level of immunity by virtue of the fact that he has served as president of the country before.

In an interview on CitiNews, Edudzi Tamakloe said, “You don’t set out to destroy a presidential candidate. Martin Amidu has been very unprofessional. The [Special Prosecutor] Act allows him to arrest, and he is aware. John Dramani Mahama by reason of the fact that he has been a former President of this republic enjoys immunity on criminal prosecution…”

He insisted that Martin Amidu’s only interest in Mahama’s alleged roles in the Airbus scandal is to tarnish his image and a political advantage for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, ahead of the December 7 polls.

“…All Martin Amidu is trying to do is to muddy the waters and create distortions for purely electoral advantage for his friend, Akufo-Addo,” he added.

Martin Amidu in his Agyapa corruption risk assessment named former President John Dramani Mahama as the Government Official One in the Airbus scandal.

Unenthused about this development, the former president called Mr Amidu a coward for failing to accuse him directly and subject him to account.

He said in a media engagement “If you [Martin Amidu] were man enough, present Agyapa and do a report on Airbus separately. And I will come as a man and answer you on Airbus. If you think I’m indicted in Airbus, accuse me directly. But because he is a coward and he knew they were going to discuss Agyapa, he put a paragraph on Airbus to equalise the discussion. I mean what stupidity is this?”

In a counter response, Martin Amidu further revealed alleged specific roles John Mahama played in the Airbus scandal together with his brother Samuel Adam Mahama.

Describing parts of Mahama role in a statement, he wrote; “Former President John Dramani Mahama and his elder brother Alfred Abdulai Mahama both knew that Samuel Adam Mahama had not attended the University of Ghana from 6th January 1992 to 4th November 1994 but nonetheless guaranteed the application verifying the statements contained in the application for the Ghanaian passport. These were all done in furtherance of corruption and corruption-related offences.”