Ministers’ lack of cooperation with Amidu real problem – CDD

The Executive Director for the Centre for Democratic Development(CDD), Professor Henry Kwesi Prempeh has said claims by the Special Prosecutor that he is not receiving the necessary cooperation from government agencies and appointees must be taken seriously.

According to him, such posturing by state officials could genuinely hamper the fight against graft.

Martin Amidu, the special prosecutor has bemoaned the kind of cooperation he receives from some members of the executive arm of government.

“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.

“You ask for information you can’t get it, you ask for docket, the docket cannot be produced. You ask a minister for a record, the record cannot be produced. How do you fight corruption when those appointed by the president who has a vision are not coordinating with the office of the special prosecutor to achieve his mandate? That is the challenge we have to face,” Amidu noted at a public lecture in Accra.

Speaking to Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Monday, Professor Prempeh said the Special Prosecutor may find himself under pressure because expectations for his office have not been managed properly.

"The part of his remarks that are more worrisome for me relates to where he says he’s made request to ministries and agencies and ministers and he is not getting them. If indeed there is no cooperation from such state actors then that is a real problem that we must deal with."

“We ought to have managed expectations a bit better. Passing the legislation is only one of the tasks. The lack of the resources and the things he needs does not mean that there is a failure it means that there is process that must happen over time. We did not manage expectation of this office well,” he said.

Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo has assured the concerns of the Special Prosecutor are being taken care of.

"The office has been established by law and contrary to a lot of things the efforts are being made to make sure that the office is functional. I think very soon, all of you will see that indeed, the office is functional."