Respond to Akufo-Addo’s counter-allegations – Emile Short to Amidu

A former Commissioner for the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Justice Emile Short, has called on former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu, to respond to the accusations levelled against him by the Office of the President.

The counter-accusations were in response to allegations levelled against the President and his government by Mr Amidu who resigned from his post on Monday, 16 November.

Speaking on the issue on Class91.3FM’s State of the Nation programme hosted by Blessed Sogah on Wednesday, 18 November 2020, Justice Short expressed optimism that a replacement will be found for Mr Amidu before the December polls.

Mr Short said: “Nobody knows the outcome of the elections, and nobody knows the outcome of the election, so, my guess is that the president will appoint someone to replace him before the 7th of December.”

On whether he would accept to become Special Prosecutor if offered the role, the former CHRAJ Commissioner said: “I would thank the President for the offer but point out to him that I’ve retired, I’ve passed the retirement age to serve in a public office and I’m presently enjoying my retirement and I have no intention of going back to public service.”

“I’m sure that the President is going to appoint somebody to replace him. Given the allegations that he has made and the response given by the President, I don’t think that there’s going to be an amicable resolution of this matter in terms of convincing him to come to the job,” Mr Short stated.

“I find that the office of the President’s letter has raised questions that Mr Amidu ought to answer as to his conduct in refusing to accept the accommodation allocated to him," he said.

He also implored the former SP to react to the accusation concerning his seconded staff.

“Now the use of seconded staff is not unusual in the public service. When CHRAJ was established, we also used seconded staff for our investigations. We used former police officers and other public officers, who were seconded to our office and once employees are seconded to your office, you have total control over them.

"Now if he claims that some of these employees were compromised, he doesn’t explain how they were compromised, he said that, therefore, the investigations were not being done the way he wanted them to be done. So I think there are a lot of questions which Amidu has to answer in light of the response issued by the office of the President,” Mr Short added.

Mr Amidu, among other things, said in his resignation letter that his decision is to “enable Your Excellency to take steps to appoint a replacement to that position as required by law.”

“The one condition upon which I accepted to be nominated as the Special Prosecutor when you invited me to your Office on 10 January 2018 was your firm promise to me that you will respect and ensure same by your government for my independence and freedom of action as the Special Prosecutor,” he stated.

He also told President Nana Akufo-Addo that he is not his poodle, as he (the president) had falsely believed.

Mr Amidu also accused Nana Akufo-Addo of interfering with the independence of the Office of the Special Prosecutor with regard to the corruption and anti-corruption assessment carried out on the controversial gold royalties deal – Agyapa transaction – thus, found it “untenable” to remain in office.

He also told the President that his second term of office will not be any different from the first as far as the fight against corruption is concerned.

“I also do not see any serious non-partisan prospect of any improvement in preventing and fighting corruption in Your Excellency’s next term of office in 2021”, Mr Amidu told the President in his resignation letter.