General News of Thursday, 15 July 2021
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2021-07-15I regret trusting President Akufo-Addo – Martin Amidu
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Martin Amidu
• Martin Amidu has stated that he regrets trusting President Akufo-Addo
• He said, he was naïve for accepting to be the Special Prosecutor
• He noted, he would not have ordinarily accepted that position
Martin Amidu, a former Special Prosecutor,
Read full articlehas said his only regret in life is to have trusted President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in a sheepish manner allowing himself to be conned into accepting the position of being the first Special Prosecutor in 2018.
According to him, he was naïve but he sincerely believed that President Akufo-Addo was committed to the fight against corruption and “was also against using the process of criminal justice administration as an instrument of political discrimination against his political opponents.”
In a five-paged statement, Martin Amidu stated that, he would not have ordinarily accepted to be the Special Prosecutor because, in 1999, he declined being nominated to the Supreme Court.
He explained, “the position and status of Special Prosecutor was not one I would ordinarily have agreed to be nominated and appointed to after declining nomination for the Supreme Court in 1999 as I indicated on oath at my vetting but for the fact the President invited, cajoled, promised, and assured me that the appointment was going to be on terms personal to me and vowed to ensure my independence and that of the Office.
“The President and I at our first meeting in his office on 10th January 2018 anticipated possible legal action by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on the age provision in Act 959 but we concluded, as seasoned constitutional lawyers, that Act 959 was constitutional, and above all it was not our place to invalidate an Act of Parliament.”
Read Martin Amidu’s full statement below:
