Editorial: So Long Martin

It has been a long time in coming. Many expected the resignation of Martin Amidu long before Monday when it happened.

Coming close to elections, perhaps it was timed to be a national discourse on the political space.

Various theories have been advanced for the action but it would seem only Martin knows why he did so.

Perhaps now that he is no more holding that office, he would have time to write longer epistles for our consumption.

We will miss his haranguing in the media about non-functioning or even availability tools in his office.

President Akufo-Addo's appointment of the gentleman was greeted with mixed reactions. While some thought it was a good move, proving the President's commitment to fighting corruption in the country, others wondered whether the goal which informed his appointment was going to be met.

We are mindful about veering into the minefield of querying Martin for the action he took.

Ours is just to ponder over the three years during which concrete actions could have been taken by Martin to deal with corruption headlong regardless of whose ox is gored. Perhaps he was on the verge of doing so when he suddenly changed course and exited the ship.

Citizen vigilantes like him do not go on AWOL, they countenance the challenges if at all there are and keep firing on until the cankerworm of corruption is subdued with no wings to fly anymore.

We disagree with the former President John Mahama's remarks that Martin is a coward, not a man enough. If he expected Martin to go beyond the reference to Agyapa and Airbus in one of his epistles, he might have misunderstood how the gentleman works.

Maybe what Martin did not tell the President was that he prefers to do his work through essays.

We heard more about non-availability of working tools for him to work with than about spanners thrown into his assignments. Unfortunately the story has been twisted for effect by political interest groups to create the impression about arms tying to make it impossible for Martin to work. There has been no evidence though about Martin being denied access to the media with his essays.

The needed resources he demanded did surface eventually but many have complained about not seeing a sustained fight against corruption from the ace citizen vigilante who works better outside the enclosure of a Special Prosecutor's Office.

President Akufo-Addo's excellent performance at the helm, verifiable as it supersedes insinuations and innuendos.

The free SHS is a lasting legacy which as an intangible memento would live after generations.

Even as we express gratitude to Martin Amidu for his brief but tumultuous tenure as Special Prosecutor, the maiden one of course, we would always turn to the rejoining essays which characterised his tenure as political thrillers.

With ample time at his disposal, we must be ready for the next epistle in response to the NPP's reaction to his resignation letter and its contents, a Rawlings' grade boom. We wish Martin God's speed as he sets out to write even more even as we regret his exit. We wish he had stayed long enough to fight corruption for Ghana neither for NDC nor NPP.

---Daily Guide