Amidu shouldn’t have resigned – Asare

A United States based Ghanaian professor, Kweku Asare, has expressed dissenting views against Martin Amidu following his resignation as Special Prosecutor.

He said Mr Amidu should have stood his grounds and continued with the investigations into the Agyapa Royalties agreement.

“My opinion is that the SP should have stood his grounds and continued with the Agyapa investigation. This is exactly what Justice Abban did when General Acheampong attempted to interfere with the tabulation of the UNIGOV results.

“I also think Presidents should avoid inviting independent officers to the Presidency to discuss their work, especially if such work implicates the executive. Such invitations compromise independence in appearance and furthers the myth that the President is a King. We should stop creating offices just to check a box. Offices require logistics (building, supplies), budget and staff. These things must be in place as a condition precedent to the creation of offices. Incidentally, we should also stop creating overlapping bureaucracies, all underfunded.
“There is no justification for issuing someone a warrant of appointment only for the letter of appointment to come two years later. The only thing worse than that is not to pay the person for two years while keeping him in the dark as to the nature of his benefit and emolument.

“Finally, boards of these independent bodies serve no purpose. In fact, some of them just cause troubles,” he said in a Facebook post.

Mr Amidu cited a number of reasons for his resignation.

He said in his letter to the president that “It is essential for me to state for the purpose of the records, and contrary to public perceptions, that my appointment letter was received on 5th February 2020 (almost two (2)-years after my appointment).



“The copy addressees made no efforts to honour any of the conditions of appointment in terms of emoluments and benefits of the appointment ever since my warrant of appointment was issued on 23rd February 2018 to the date of my letter of resignation. The Deputy Special Prosecutor has also not been paid any emoluments since her appointment, and there is the need to redress that situation for her now that I am out of the way.

“The events of 12th November 2020 removed the only protection I had from the threats and plans directed at me for undertaking the Agyapa Royalties Limited Transactions anti-corruption assessment report and dictates that I resign as the Special Prosecutor immediately.

“I should not ordinarily be announcing my resignation to the public myself but the traumatic experience I went through from 20th October 2020 to 2nd November 2020 when I conveyed in a thirteen (13) page letter the conclusions and observations on the analysis of the risk of corruption and anti-corruption assessment on the Report On Agyapa Royalties Limited Transactions and Other Matters Related Thereto to the President as Chairman of the National Security Council cautions against not bringing my resignation as the Special Prosecutor with immediate to the notice of the Ghanaian public and the world.

“The reaction I received for daring to produce the Agyapa Royalties Limited Transactions anti-corruption report convinces me beyond any reasonable doubt that I was not intended to exercise any independence as the Special Prosecutor in the prevention, investigation, prosecution, and recovery of assets of corruption. My position as the Special Prosecutor has consequently become clearly untenable.”

Source:3news.com