Was the Euphoric Creation of the Office of Special Prosecutor a Mere Political Gimmick?

I am highly upset about the developments that led to the untimely resignation of Hon. Martin Amidu from his post as Special Prosecutor. Many a Ghanaian was euphoric, when then presidential-candidate Nana Akufo-Addo envisioned the extermination of official corruption from Ghana through the appointment of a Special Prosecutor to deal solely with issues relating to official corruption, if he won election 2016. It became one of his campaign promises that endeared him to many a Ghanaian. This is because all discerning Ghanaians are aware of the fact that official corruption, thus, misappropriation of funds and public assets by government appointees and those in higher positions within the public service, retards the economic development of Ghana for the collective betterment of Ghanaians. Simply put, corruption is the bane of the economic emancipation and development of Ghana, and the root cause of the subhuman status of Africans, in the eyes of our contemporary whites.

Ghanaians were made to understand that the Special Prosecutor will be independent from any influence by whomever, so as to allow him do his job without fear or favour to obtain his defined objective of ridding Ghana of the obvious ruinous corruption.

I was among those Ghanaians who expressed support for Hon Martin Amidu to be appointed as the Special Prosecutor, considering his track record of singularly waging war against officials perceived or known to have committed corrupt acts against mother Ghana. For his selfless attempts to fight corruption in Ghana, he earned the envious nickname, "Citizen Vigilante". It came at the cost of his ministerial job and threats of death or harm to his life. I need not delve into this since everything is already in the public domain.

For me, Hon Martin Amidu is a man of integrity. Nobody can take that quality away from him. He is second to none in Ghana when it comes to truthful exhibition of quest and practicality to fighting official corruption in Ghana. I doff my hat to him!

I agree with him resigning and making his reasons public. It takes only a man of integrity to do that. From my stay abroad and experience gained at work, as well as teeming information available out there in the public domain, many a white man in a managerial or any higher position, or in government, will resign from their job when they are unduly obstructed from executing their duties in conformity to the regulations and the best productive interest of the institution or the work. When they do so, they may either make their reasons known to the public or not. Such are people of integrity but not those Ghanaians when they are caught red-handed indulging in corruption or other criminal activities will still want to stay put in their position even in the face of public agitations for them to quit the job.

Those people accusing him of all sorts of things - incompetence, scared, an NDC mole, traitor, etc., are not serious but a bunch of damn hypocrites who do not actually seek the extermination of corruption from Ghana but their selfish insatiable greed. Some talk about the timing of his resignation. What has the timing got to do with his resignation? When was it the right time for him to resign, when he was allegedly intentionally being obstructed from doing his job contrary to the terms of his appointment and his job description as approved by Ghana parliament?

Whoever wants to fight corruption must do so indiscriminately. He must be colour blind, without picking and choosing who to investigate, prosecute or fight. He must investigate or fight anyone perceived or established to be corrupt without consideration for his/her status, political party affiliation or personal friendship. Whoever falls into the arena of official corruption must be investigated, and whoever is able to stand firm to do such investigation to get the desired result is a Man of Integrity.

I find it too laughable the view of those calling for the president to make it a public announcement to invite interested people to apply for the post of the Special Prosecutor. It does not take anyone to become a Special Prosecutor but he who is determined to stand up to any official coercion or influence as did Hon Martin Amidu.

If one of the reasons offered for his resignation stands truthfully tall as it appears, thus, the president was trying to dictate to him contrary to his job description to compromise him, until that control is removed, anyone accepting that position is purely a poodle who will come to rather intensify corruption in the country.

I really feel disappointed in the whole saga. The president had better call off that institution called the Office of the Special Prosecutor. It will be just a white elephant come at unnecessary cost to Ghanaians if anyone is going to control them contrary to the terms of its creation and functions.

The president had better accept that his fight against corruption is defeated with the inability of Hon Martin Amidu to prosecute anyone due to the purposeful impediments littered along his path to fighting official corruption, coupled with his resignation from his position.

There is nothing I can think of other than the creation of the post of Special Prosecutor being only a political gimmick!

I will end here but in due course, I will make my voice heard. We cannot sit by while some public officials corruptly amass wealth at the expense of the poor Ghanaian masses.

I hope no one will tag Hon Martin Amidu with NDC colour to explain away his resignation. He was not mischievous but resolutely determined to do his work without any ethnic or political segregation. However, he was obstructed from doing exactly that, according to his principal reason for resigning from his post.

I shall encourage him to continue to serve his country as best as he can even without having any official position. Why do Ghanaians hate honest people hence try to frustrate them as possibly as they can given the opportunity? I can't get it.

Anyway, let us vote Nana for four more years to do more in the areas he has best served the nation – free Senior High School education, Planting for Food and Jobs (NABCO), One Village One Dam, One District One Factory, responsibly overseeing the mitigation of the Covid-19 pandemic, etc., and leave out that canker called official corruption for the meantime.

Rockson Adofo

Wednesday, 18 November 2020