Amidu Won't Be Independent As Special Prosecutor--Kpebu

Newly appointed Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu will not be independent in his duties, Martin Kpebu, a private legal practitioner has said.

President Akufo-Addo , at a press briefing Thursday, announced that he had accepted the Attorney General’s nomination of Martin Amidu to be the first Special Prosecutor under the newly signed law, a nomination he has approved.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor has been established under the Akufo-Addo government as part of his campaign promises of dealing with the corruption menace without the process being tagged as witch hunting by appointees of the erstwhile government.

The appointment which has been lauded by many including the likes of former president Flt. Lt. Jerry Rawlings is expected by Ghanaians to deal with corruption in an impartial and independent manner. The appointment and Martin Amidu have since been trend ing since Thursday evening.

But speaking on Joy News TV’s AM Show Friday, legal practitioner, Mr. Kpebu said Mr. Amidu will not be independent in the discharge of his duties.

Martin Kpebuu with AM Show's Mamavi Aboagye
“In this current scheme, the prosecutor is special but not independent because the Attorney General (AG) is his boss so the AG will still have some control over the cases that get conducted by the Special Prosecutor”, he said.

Mr. Kpebu says to have a truly independent prosecutor, the office should be detached from both the AG’s department and from the Presidency.

“…if we had the truly independent prosecutor, the one that from the early 1990s the IEA [Institute of Economic Affairs] and other Civil Society Groups and citizens had supported, it would have been different”, he stated.

He added that “when it comes to the Office of the Special Prosecutor, we expect that it’s not subject to the control of the Attorney General or the President”

Martin Amidu has since accepted his nomination as the Special Prosecutor thus displaying the readiness to carry out prosecution of corrupt public officials, a knack he is noted for.

On social media, a lot of commentators have been reacting with some expressing their views about the cases they will like him to prioritize.

The controversial GH¢52 million Woyome scandal and the Bus Branding Scandal which former Transport minister Dzifa Attivor superintended when the NDC was in power seemed to have topped the list.