Amidu – A rare chip off the human block

When President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo appointed Mr. Martin A.B.K. Amidu as Special Prosecutor to help him in his relentless fight against corruption in the country, many were those, who thought that human nature being what it is – prone to pressure to succumb to negative trends – the former Attorney-General would soon lower his guard and do the bidding of the corrupt elements being investigated.

It is natural that corrupt personalities under investigation are always desperate to disentangle themselves from the legal net they find themselves in.

If they find it difficult to influence the Special Prosecutor personally, due to his strict adherence to ethics, they will turn to others outside his jurisdiction for help.

For instance, messengers can be influenced, leading to a situation in which files containing documents relevant to investigations being conducted get “lost”. Court clerks can also do their own thing, as dockets on cases are often reported “missing”, likewise the likelihood of some senior officials frustrating investigations by being unco-operative when contacted.

The Chronicle observes that it was against this background that Mr. Amidu was virtually forced to register his sentiments on what seems to block the path towards his efficiency as a Special Prosecutor.

During a National Audit Forum organised by the Ghana Audit Service in Accra recently, he lamented: “You ask for information and you can't get it; you ask for a docket and the docket cannot be produced. You ask for a Minister for a record and the record cannot be produced.

“How do you fight corruption when those appointed by the President, who has a vision, are not co-operating with the Office of the Prosecutor to achieve his mandate? That is the challenge we have to face.”

The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Gloria Akuffo, did not , however, take kindly to Mr. Amidu's “outbursts”, as she described his concerns and profusely outlined measures so far taken to make the Office of Special Prosecutor functional.

The Chronicle, in all sincerity, does understand the “outburst” of Mr. Amidu. Here is a rare chip off the human block plucked by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration from the opposition camp of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), whose maltreatment of Amidu confirmed the biblical saying that “a Prophet is not recognised in his own home.”

Mr. Amidu is thus extremely anxious to prove to President Akufo-Addo that he made a wise choice, and that it is high time he was helped to prove his worth.

The paper humbly appeals to Her Ladyship to exercise restraint, while making ready everything that will make it possible for Mr. Amidu to make use of his facilities of integrity, sincerity, honesty, and fairness in the current national fight against the predator of corruption that has, for a long time, been the author of the country's retrogression and abject poverty.

Additionally, the ultimate success of the Office of the Special Prosecutor will, without any room for doubt, serve as a deterrent to others who may be thinking of making corruption their regular cup of tea.