The President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has told Martin Amidu to be factual in his periodic briefings to the public about the management of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), an office he occupied until his resignation on November 16, 2020.
According to President Akufo-Addo, Jubilee House did everything possible to ensure that Martin Amidu gets the best including timely releases of funds to make the OSP operational and effective in the discharge of its duties.
Therefore, allegations of interference and not paying emoluments to the OSP are factually inaccurate, telling Martin Amidu that “It’s most unfortunate of you to misrepresent the nature and degree of support accorded to your office by government when the records suggest otherwise”.
Amidu announced his resignation from office as the Special Prosecutor on Monday, November 16, 2020, citing several reasons among which include not being paid emoluments due him and his deputy as well as interference from the President and high ranking government appointees at the Presidency.
“It is essential for me to state for the purpose of the records, and contrary to public perceptions, that my appointment letter was received on 5th February 2020 (almost two (2)-years after my appointment). The copy addressees made no efforts to honor any of the conditions of appointment in terms of emoluments and benefits of the appointment ever since my warrant of appointment was issued on 23rd February 2018 to the date of my letter of resignation. I accepted the offer on 10th January 2018 to be nominated to be Special Prosecutor because Mr. President, and Ghanaians knew I have been an anti-corruption crusader all my life and not an anti-corruption entrepreneur. This explains why I have never put the emoluments and benefits of the Office as central to my commitment and my passion for the establishment of an independent, effective, efficient and impartial anti-corruption Office of the Special Prosecutor before the end of the first term of Mr. President. This has not been possible for several reasons”, he noted.
Having accepted the resignation letter of Martin Amidu in a letter dated November 17, 2020, the President assured the public that he will respond to the allegations raised in Amidu’s letter to correct some factual inaccuracies for the public to judge by themselves.
In a nine-page response signed by the Secretary to the President, Nana Asante-Bediatuo, President Akufo-Addo rebutted Amidu’s allegations of interfering in his work as well that of not being paid his emoluments together with his deputy.
“Your accusation of interference with your functions simply on account of the meeting the President held with you is perplexing. In exercise of what you considered to be your powers under Act 959, you had voluntarily proceeded to produce the Agyapa Report. The President had no hand in your work. Without prompting from any quarter within the Executive, you delivered a letter purporting to be a copy of your report to the President. The purpose of presenting a copy of the Agyapa Report to the President is decipherable from paragraph 32 of your letter to the President in which you indicate that you hoped the report will be “used to improve current and future legislative and executive actions to make corruption and corruption-related offences very high risk enterprises in Ghana”. It is baffling that you will present a summary report of work, not commissioned by the President or a member of the Executive, to him and expect him not to act on the report, particularly, in light of the clear expression by your good self that the report was supposed to guide future executive actions. It should be noted that article 58(1) of the Constitution vests executive authority in the President. The President was thus under a constitutional injunction to take further action and make further enquiries of you in relation to the work you had purportedly carried out and which concerned the exercise of executive discretion. The President’s meeting with you on 21st October, 2020, was and should have been understood by you in this spirit”, the letter addressed to Amidu in part read.
Below is the letter President Akufo-Addo wrote to Martin Amidu:
