President Nana Akufo-Addo has urged parliament to quickly take steps to approve his nominee for Special Prosecutor, Martin ABK Amidu.
In an official letter to the Speaker of Parliament Prof. Mike Oquaye, President Akufo-Addo said he wants to see the same expeditious approval process that saw his 110 ministers given the nod in record time.
The Special Prosecutor is expected to fight political corruption by investigating and prosecuting officials, former and current, who have been indicted.
For the job, the President has chosen a fierce critic of the opposition National Democratic Congress who is a friend-turned-foe.
Martin Amidu was the NDC’s elections 2000 Vice-Presidential candidate who was appointed to serve as the Attorney-General when his party won power in 2008.
But after he was sacked in 2012 while investigating corruption allegations, he turned his guns on the then governing party.
Despite losing his job, Mr Amidu pursued and obtained a favourable judgment from the Supreme Court in a suit filed against Mr Woyome, Waterville Holdings and Austro Invest for fraudulently obtaining some GH¢51.2 million judgment debt from the state under the NDC government.
Martin Amidu, who christened himself the “citizen vigilante” occasionally issued critical statements questioning the Mahama government’s fight against corruption.
His blazing gun only cooled off after the NDC lost the 2016 elections. Amidu’s appointment may see him prosecute former NDC government officials.
But before that, he would have to go through a vetting exercise where he will meet NDC MPs who could want to exact their pound of flesh.
The NDC has blamed Amidu’s anti-corruption campaign for their 2016 defeat and see his nomination as a thank you gift from the Akufo-Addo government, claims the government has been keen to dismiss.
Source: Myjoyonline.com