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Is Govt Really Committed To The Fight Against Corruption? Asks Martin Amidu

Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu has said he will not succumb to pressure to leave his job.

More than a year-and-a-half after Mr Amidu was appointed and sworn into office, not a single person has been convicted of any corruption-related offence.

Mr Amidu has, on several occasions, raised concerns about being under-resourced but his critics have suggested he focuses on his job and stops the media rants.

Mr Amidu, who appeared as a guest on online talk show ‘Time with David’ hosted by David Ampofo, emphasised that: “I will not leave the job because I am not serving those who are telling me to leave the job. I am serving Ghanaians [and] that is why I am always telling Ghanaians that these are the reasons why we are not achieving what we want to achieve”.

He explained: “Ghanaians are acting and criticising based on the ignorance that the office itself hasn’t got the staff and the accommodation that can accommodate the staff”.

Mr Amidu indicated that he needs resources in order to achieve the desired results for the establishment of the office.

“The Public Prosecutor must work with staff. If you don’t give me staff, you don’t expect Martin Amidu to go and investigate people, review their dockets and go to the court and prosecute them,” he complained.

He wondered if the government was really committed to the fight against corruption.

“Do we want to fight corruption or we want to give the appearance of fighting corruption?” he questioned.

“If we intend to fight corruption and we intend that the appointee is independent, we will give the appointee all the resources and assistance that will operationalise the office, we won’t just take his reputation and throw it there and think that the war against corruption has been fought,” he concluded.

Mr Amidu said his office is required to have an investigating department, a preventive department, a prosecution department, an asset recovery division and others but the property from which he is operating is not adequate for all the needed departments and divisions.

“A three-bedroom house cannot house even only the investigations department or even more than five people let alone a prosecutions division let alone an assets recovery department,” he stated.

He said he is empowered to do several things by law but he does not have the staff and resources to execute everything.

Source: classfmonline.com

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