Amidu’s Latest Defiant Message On Ghana’s Corruption Fight: What’s In For Obstructors?

Across the world, today, rampant corruption activities have plunged many, many societies into serious economic crises. Despite these odds, citizens and institutions are refusing to accept the phenomenon and thereby taking actions to fight it. In some degree, they’re adopting best practices in making sure their justice systems become more resilient.

In June 2019, over 140 researchers and specialists in corruption prevention, investigation and prosecution, from more than 50 countries, met in Oslo, Norway, to discuss global corruption issues and to recommend some new measures to combat them.

Among the many recommendations that were considered at the summit, the 39th, which speaks about joint investigation states as follows: “The use of parallel or joint investigations should be considered in transnational cases, in order to access all necessary evidence and the parties should fully support each other’s proceedings by furnishing relevant information spontaneously whenever possible and promptly..."

Whichever way, the question that could be asked is whether the parallel or joint investigation is equally useful in fighting national corruption cases? Indeed, there are those who believe that parallel and joint investigations are equally relevant for investigating home-grown corruption. However, the circumstances and the kind of suspects to be investigated ought to be taken into consideration.

In the case of Ghana, our experience in pursuing options to fight corruption has quickened the Seventh Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana, in 2017, to pass the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) Bill into law. Subsequently, the OSP Act, 2017 (Act 959) led the country’s President, Akuffo Addo, to appoint Mr Martin Amidu, an experienced anti-graft crusader and a legal luminary to head and provide the office’s leadership.

In fact, prior to his elevation as Ghana's first Special Prosecutor to the OSP, Mr Amidu’s household name was ‘Citizen Vigilante’, because of his stern resistance against corruption in all its forms. Consequently, upon assumption of office Mr Amidu remained outspoken on the resource-scarce climate and other dealings which sought to incapacitate the OSP’s work.

Suffice to say, recent news that captured the clearance of Ghana's presidential staffer, Mr Charles Bissue, by Ghana’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in an alleged bribery scandal when he was allegedly caught in a new Exposé prepared by the Tiger Eye, a Ghana- based Investigative Journalism entity, on Galamsey Fraud as a secretary to an Inter-ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining set up to fight illegal mining in Ghana.

Unfortunately, as the media reported, the CID cleared Mr Bissue from any wrongdoing as they based their decision on lack of evidence. Meanwhile, the CID's move appalled many individuals and anti-corruption agencies, and raised questions if there truly exist justice and rule of law in Ghana. Again, Mr Bissue’s prove of innocence sought to re-emphasize the complexities and polarities found in handling corruption cases in Ghana by the agencies set up to fight crimes.

Of course, in what the Special Prosecutor has reiterated as obstruction, why’ll a political office holder instruct the CID to go ahead and investigate a case that has been duly ceded to the OSP? And how exactly does the CID want to conduct such an investigation when they're aware some of the top members of the Police are implicated?

It suggests, however, that sanctioning a parallel investigation to cover that which wholly falls within the jurisdiction of the OSP falls short of the 2019 Oslo resolution. As such, attempting to do that investigation has stifled the process of justice.

Now, Mr Bissue's case is only one among the numerous alleged scandals which awaits investigation by the OSP. Sadly, there seems to be a growing culture of obstruction among some heads of institutions and political office holders, which seek to retard the OSP in performing its core duties.

Consequently, the grand resistance which the obstructers are mounting up has pushed Mr. Amidu to write an Epistle to the President, recently, outlining lack of cooperation from some pro-government individuals and institutions. And further he threatened to prosecute those who'll fail to furnish the OSP right evidence in its investigation activities.

Lately, many Ghanaians felt relieved when Mr Amidu, publicly, spoke and eventually sent a message to all obstructers that they can’t hinder the OSP from carrying out its investigations. More especially, Mr Amidu's latest message which he shared on a Citi media platform to listeners as saying, “I’ll treat crime as crime and not care about who’s involved” (Citi FM's Morning Show, 22.7.19) is actually a new resolve that has uplifted the hope of millions of Ghanaians.

So, at the moment what we can do is to wait confidently for that day of recompense to arrive. Surely, if it finally arrives, none of those corrupt individuals who're milking the nation’s meagre resources would escape Amidu's rod.

But in our wait, the real question we should be asking is this: wouldn't Mr. Amidu's appointment as Ghana's Special Prosecutor be rationalizing what some critics foresaw as amounting to government stabbing itself in the foot?

Komla Lokoe
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